Breakdown of Non spedirgliele! Ha bisogno della cucitrice, non delle forbici.
non
not
di
of, from
spedire
to send
gliele
them to him/her/them (feminine)
la cucitrice
the stapler
le forbici
the scissors
avere bisogno di
to need
Questions & Answers about Non spedirgliele! Ha bisogno della cucitrice, non delle forbici.
How do you form the negative imperative Non spedirgliele! with the pronouns attached?
For the negative informal imperative (telling 'tu' not to do something), Italian uses non + the infinitive verb. Here, the verb is spedire (to send). When attaching pronouns to an infinitive, you drop the final -e. So, spedire becomes spedir-, and then you attach the combined pronoun gliele to the end.
Is it also correct to put the pronouns before the verb here?
Yes! With the negative tu imperative, you have a choice. You can attach the pronouns to the end of the infinitive (Non spedirgliele!) or you can place them before the verb (Non gliele spedire!). Both are perfectly natural and mean the exact same thing.
Break down the combined pronoun gliele—what do its parts mean in this specific sentence?
The word gliele is made of two pronouns. Gli- is the indirect object meaning 'to him' (though it also means 'to her' or 'to them' when combined like this). The -le is the direct object meaning 'them' (feminine plural). It is feminine plural here because it refers back to the scissors (le forbici).
Why does the sentence use della and delle instead of just la cucitrice and le forbici?
This happens because of the verb phrase avere bisogno di (to need, literally 'to have need of'). Because it requires the preposition di, you must combine di with the definite articles of the nouns that follow. Di + la becomes della (for the stapler), and di + le becomes delle (for the scissors).
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