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Marco ha una rosa e gliela regala in segreto.

Marco ha una rosa e gliela regala in segreto.
Marco has a rose and he gifts it to her in secret.
From Lesson 131:Third-person combined pronouns (glielo, gliela)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Marco ha una rosa e gliela regala in segreto.

How does gliela break down in this sentence?
It combines the indirect object pronoun for "to her" and the direct object pronoun for "it" (the rose). Normally, "to her" is le and "it" (feminine) is la. But when we stick them together, le changes to glie- and joins with la to make the single word gliela.
If gli usually means "to him", why does gliela mean "it to her" here?
That is the tricky part about combined pronouns! Both gli (to him) and le (to her) transform into the exact same prefix, glie-, when paired with words like lo, la, li, or le. Because of this, gliela can actually mean "it to him", "it to her", or even "it to them". You have to rely on context to know which one it is!
Why does it end in -la instead of -lo?
The ending always matches the thing being given. Since Marco is giving a rose (una rosa), which is a feminine noun, we use the feminine pronoun la. If he were giving a ring (un anello), he would use lo, making the combined word glielo.
Could I use the verb dare (to give) instead of regalare?
You could say gliela dà (he gives it to her), but regalare is more specific. It means "to give as a gift" or "to present". Since a rose is usually a romantic or thoughtful gift, regala is the most natural choice here.

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