Breakdown of Lo aumenti un po', il volume?
lo
him/it (direct object)
aumentare
to increase
un po'
a little, a bit
il volume
the volume
Questions & Answers about Lo aumenti un po', il volume?
Why is the pronoun lo used here if the sentence already includes il volume?
This is a classic example of "right dislocation," the focus of this lesson. In conversational Italian, people often want to get straight to the action—turning it up—so they use the pronoun lo ("it") right before the verb. They then tag the actual object, il volume, at the exact end of the sentence to clarify what "it" refers to.
Could I just say Aumenti un po' il volume? without the lo and the comma?
Yes, absolutely! Aumenti un po' il volume? is perfectly correct standard Italian. However, using right dislocation (Lo aumenti un po', il volume?) is incredibly common in spoken Italian. Shifting the object to the end softens the sentence and makes it sound more natural and conversational.
The English translation uses the future "Will you turn it up", so why is aumenti in the present tense?
In Italian, the present tense is frequently used for immediate, informal requests or actions that are happening right now. While you could theoretically use the future tense (lo aumenterai), using the present tense for a simple favor like this feels much more direct and natural.
Why does po' have an apostrophe at the end?
The apostrophe shows that a piece of the word has been chopped off. Po' is the shortened form of poco (little/a bit). The apostrophe replaces the missing -co. Remember that it is an apostrophe, not an accent mark, so it is always written as po' and never as pò.
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