Breakdown of Non portarceli! Abbiamo bisogno del correttore, non dei pennarelli.
non
not
di
of, from
portare
to bring, to carry
ce li
them (masc.) to us
il correttore
correction fluid
il pennarello
marker
avere bisogno di
to need
Questions & Answers about Non portarceli! Abbiamo bisogno del correttore, non dei pennarelli.
Why does "portarceli" look like an infinitive here?
Because for the negative informal imperative (telling "tu" not to do something), Italian uses non followed by the infinitive of the verb. So, "do not bring" is non portare.
How do the pronouns "ce" and "li" attach to "portare" in "portarceli"?
When attaching pronouns to an infinitive, you drop the final -e of the verb (making it portar-). Then, the indirect object ci (to us) changes its -i to an -e because it comes right before the direct object li (them, referring to the markers). Combined, you get portarceli.
Could I put the pronouns before the verb instead of attaching them to the end?
Yes! In the negative informal imperative, you actually have two choices for pronoun placement. You can attach them to the end of the infinitive (Non portarceli!) or place them right before the verb (Non ce li portare!). Both are perfectly correct and very common.
Why does the second sentence use "del" and "dei"?
The expression for "to need" is avere bisogno di (literally "to have need of"). When you need specific items, that di combines with the definite articles for those items. Here, di + il becomes del (for the singular correttore), and di + i becomes dei (for the plural pennarelli).
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