Breakdown of Il cameriere ha un grembiule pulito e se lo mette.
un
a / an (masculine)
e
and
pulito
clean
avere
to have
il cameriere
the waiter
se lo
it for himself/herself/themselves (se la, se li, se le)
mettersi
to put on (clothing)
il grembiule
apron
Questions & Answers about Il cameriere ha un grembiule pulito e se lo mette.
Why does the sentence use se lo instead of si lo?
Whenever the third-person reflexive pronoun si (meaning 'himself', 'herself', or 'themselves') is immediately followed by a direct object pronoun like lo, la, li, or le, the i changes to an e. Therefore, si + lo becomes se lo.
Why do we need the reflexive se here? The English translation just says 'puts it on'.
What exactly does the lo in se lo refer to?
It refers back to un grembiule (an apron). Because grembiule is a masculine singular noun, we must use the masculine singular direct object pronoun lo to mean 'it'.
If the verb was in the infinitive (to put it on), how would the word order change?
With an infinitive, these pronouns attach to the end of the verb to form one single word. You drop the final -e of the infinitive mettere and attach selo directly to it, making metterselo.
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