Word
I computer vecchi, li portano in discarica.
Meaning
The old computers, they take them to the dump.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of I computer vecchi, li portano in discarica.
vecchio
old
in
in / made of (material)
portare
to bring, to carry
li
them (masculine direct object)
Questions & Answers about I computer vecchi, li portano in discarica.
Why is li used here when we already mentioned I computer vecchi?
This is the main feature of left dislocation! When we move the direct object (I computer vecchi) to the very beginning of the sentence to make it the topic, Italian requires a matching clitic pronoun to resume or echo it before the verb. Since computer is treated as masculine plural here, we use the pronoun li.
Why is the plural of computer just computer?
Who is the subject of portano here?
Why do we use the preposition in for in discarica instead of alla?
Many words for everyday locations ending in -ca or -ia (such as banca, farmacia, and discarica) take the preposition in without a definite article. This is used when you are talking about going to that kind of place generally, rather than pointing out one specific building.