Breakdown of Ho le lettere del mittente, ma non gliele consegno.
ma
but
non
not
la lettera
the letter
avere
to have
di
of, from
consegnare
to deliver
il mittente
the sender
gliele
them to him/her/them (feminine)
Questions & Answers about Ho le lettere del mittente, ma non gliele consegno.
What exactly does gliele stand for in this sentence?
The translation says "to him". Could gliele also mean "to her"?
Yes, absolutely! When forming combined pronouns, the indirect pronouns for "to him" (gli) and "to her" (le) both transform into glie-. It can even mean "to them". You have to rely on the context of the conversation to know whether you are refusing to deliver the letters to a man, a woman, or a group of people.
Why is the order non gliele consegno instead of putting non after the pronouns?
Why is it del mittente instead of just di mittente?
To express possession like "the sender's letters", Italian literally says "the letters of the sender". You need the definite article "the" before the noun. Here, the preposition di (of) merges with the masculine singular article il (the) to create the combined word del.
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