Learn Italian: Dammi il cacciavite, per favore. - Give me the screwdriver, please.

Dammi il cacciavite, per favore.

Give me the screwdriver, please.

Breakdown of Dammi il cacciavite, per favore.

please (asking for something)

il cacciavite

the screwdriver

Questions & Answers about Dammi il cacciavite, per favore.

Why is there a double "m" in dammi?

Dammi is made from the informal command da' (give) and the pronoun mi (to me). When you attach a pronoun to short, one-syllable commands like da', fa' (do/make), or di' (say), the first letter of the pronoun doubles. That is why da' + mi becomes dammi.

Is mi a direct or an indirect object pronoun here?

It is an indirect object pronoun meaning "to me." You are literally telling the other person "Give to me the screwdriver."

Cacciavite ends in -e. How can I remember that it takes the masculine article il?

Nouns ending in -e can be tricky! Cacciavite is a compound word made from caccia (pushes/drives) and vite (screw). In Italian, compound words made of a verb and a noun are almost always masculine, even if the original noun (la vite) was feminine.

Could I say dai a me instead of dammi?

Yes, dai a me il cacciavite is grammatically correct, but it puts heavy emphasis on "to me" (instead of giving it to someone else). For a casual, everyday request, Italians naturally attach the pronoun to the end of the command and say dammi.