Breakdown of Ribadiscono che firmano il loro verbale, ma non il tuo.
ma
but
non
not
tuo
your
loro
their
firmare
to sign
che
that (conjunction introducing a clause)
ribadire
to reiterate
il verbale
the minutes
Questions & Answers about Ribadiscono che firmano il loro verbale, ma non il tuo.
How do the possessives shift here compared to direct speech?
If this were direct speech, the speakers would say: "We are signing il nostro verbale" (our minutes). Because we are reporting what they said using indirect speech, il nostro shifts to il loro (their). The phrase il tuo (yours) doesn't shift, assuming the speaker is reporting the sentence to the same person the original speakers were talking to.
Why is the article il used before loro?
In Italian, loro is both the subject pronoun "they" and the possessive adjective "their". Unlike other possessives, loro is invariable, meaning its ending never changes. However, you still must use a definite article that agrees with the noun it modifies. Here, il matches the masculine singular noun verbale.
Why does verbale translate to "minutes" here instead of something about speaking?
Why does the sentence end with just il tuo instead of repeating the noun?
Just like in English when we say "not yours", you don't need to repeat the noun if it's obvious from the context. Here, il tuo acts as a possessive pronoun replacing il tuo verbale. Notice that Italian still requires the definite article (il) even when the noun is dropped.
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