Learn Italian: Non lasciarglielo! Ha già preso l'evidenziatore. - Do not leave it for him! He already took the highlighter.

Non lasciarglielo! Ha già preso l'evidenziatore.

Do not leave it for him! He already took the highlighter.

Breakdown of Non lasciarglielo! Ha già preso l'evidenziatore.

Questions & Answers about Non lasciarglielo! Ha già preso l'evidenziatore.

Why are the pronouns attached to the end of lasciarglielo instead of coming before the verb?

For the negative informal command, you can place the double pronoun either attached to the end of the infinitive, like Non lasciarglielo!, or before the verb, like Non glielo lasciare!. Both are perfectly correct.

Why does this sentence use the infinitive lasciare instead of the regular command form lascia?

The negative command for the informal tu is always formed using non plus the infinitive of the verb. When we attach pronouns to the end of an infinitive, we drop the final letter e, which is why lasciare and glielo combine into lasciarglielo.

What exactly does glielo stand for here?

It is a double object pronoun combining gli, meaning to him, and lo, meaning it, referring to the highlighter. When gli combines with direct object pronouns like lo, its spelling changes to glie- to make it easier to pronounce.

How do we know evidenziatore is masculine to match the pronoun lo?