Learn Italian: Educare un adolescente è difficile, ma devi lasciarlo crescere. - Raising a teenager is difficult, but you must let him grow.

In the permissive construction (lasciare + infinitive), the person being allowed to do something is the direct object of lasciare. Since lasciare is in its infinitive form here after the modal verb devi, the pronoun lo (him) attaches to the end of it, dropping the final 'e' to become lasciarlo.

Could I put the pronoun lo somewhere else in the sentence?

Yes! Because devi is a modal verb (a verb expressing necessity), you can move the object pronoun to the very front of the conjugated verb. You could say ma lo devi lasciare crescere, and it means exactly the same thing.

The translation says 'Raising a teenager', but the Italian uses Educare. Why not use Crescere?

You could use crescere to mean 'to raise' (and it is used at the end of this sentence to mean 'to grow'), but educare is often preferred for parenting. It specifically refers to bringing someone up, teaching them manners, and guiding their behavior, which fits the context of raising an adolescent perfectly.

How would this sentence change if it were about raising a female teenager?