Learn Italian: È meglio affidare il compito al collega. - It is better to entrust the task to the colleague.

Collega (colleague) is a noun that can be masculine or feminine depending on the person's actual gender, but its singular form always ends in -a. Here, al (the combination of a + il) tells us this specific colleague is male. If it were a female colleague, it would be alla collega.

How does al collega relate to the indirect objects we are learning about in this lesson?

Just like the causative fare constructions you are practicing (where you make or let someone do something by using a + person), the verb affidare (to entrust) also requires an indirect object. You entrust a task to someone. In Italian, this receiver is marked by the preposition a, which merges with the masculine article il to become al.

Why is there no word for 'it' before è meglio?

Italian doesn't use dummy subject pronouns like the English word 'it' for impersonal expressions. The concept of 'it' is simply built into the third-person verb è. You just say è meglio (it is better) followed directly by the infinitive verb affidare.

Does il compito mean 'the homework' or 'the task'?