Breakdown of Hanno perso la partita per colpa di Marco o a causa del maltempo?
o
or
avere
to have
Marco
Marco
la partita
the match
perdere
to lose, to miss
la
her/it (direct object)
a causa di
due to, because of
il maltempo
the bad weather
per colpa di
because of, through the fault of
Questions & Answers about Hanno perso la partita per colpa di Marco o a causa del maltempo?
Why does the sentence use per colpa di for Marco but a causa di for the bad weather?
Why is it di Marco but del maltempo?
When a compound preposition ends in di, you must combine it with the definite article of the noun that follows. Proper names like Marco do not take an article, so the preposition stays as di. The noun maltempo needs the masculine article il. When you combine di and il, it becomes the articulated preposition del.
Is perso an irregular past participle?
Yes, it is the irregular past participle of the verb perdere (to lose). If it followed the standard pattern for an -ere verb, it would end with -uto, but it changes to perso instead.
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