Log inSign up

La ragazza prende i sandali e se li prova.

La ragazza prende i sandali e se li prova.
The girl takes the sandals and tries them on.
From Lesson 250:Reflexive combined pronouns (se lo, se la...)·Italian

Questions & Answers about La ragazza prende i sandali e se li prova.

Why does it say se li prova instead of just li prova?
The verb being used here is the reflexive verb provarsi, which means "to try on" (clothing, shoes, etc.). If you just said li prova (using the non-reflexive verb provare), it would simply mean "she tries them" or "she tests them". The reflexive piece adds the necessary "on herself" meaning for trying on clothes.
I know the reflexive pronoun for "herself" is si. Why does it change to se here?
Whenever the reflexive pronoun si is combined with a direct object pronoun (like lo, la, li, or le), its vowel changes from i to e. Because she is trying on i sandali (them / li), the combination of si + li becomes se li.
Why are the pronouns se li separate words placed before the verb?
Because prova is a conjugated verb. In Italian, object pronouns usually go immediately before the conjugated verb. If the verb were an infinitive (like "to try them on"), they would drop the final "-e" and glue to the end as one big word: provarseli.
How would the end of the sentence change if she were trying on a t-shirt (la maglietta) instead of sandals?
Since la maglietta is feminine singular, the direct object pronoun li (them, masculine plural) would change to la (it, feminine singular). The reflexive se stays exactly the same, so the end of the sentence would be: ...e se la prova.

Learn La ragazza prende i sandali e se li prova and more in Italian

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
  • ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free
Start learning Italian →