Breakdown of Se usciamo, prendiamo il tuo snowboard o quello di Maria?
o
or
quello
that
di
of, from
tuo
your
Questions & Answers about Se usciamo, prendiamo il tuo snowboard o quello di Maria?
Why do we use quello di Maria instead of just saying di Maria to mean Maria's?
In English, we use the possessive 's (Maria's) and just drop the noun. In Italian, you can't leave a preposition like di hanging on its own. Instead, you use a demonstrative pronoun to replace the missing noun. Quello steps in for the masculine singular snowboard, so quello di Maria essentially translates to that of Maria.
I thought words starting with sn take the article lo, like lo snowboard. Why does the sentence use il?
Why are we using the present tense prendiamo to ask about something we haven't done yet?
In Italian, the present tense is frequently used for the near future, especially for immediate plans or when making a suggestion. Asking prendiamo is the most natural way to say shall we take or are we going to take.
If we were talking about skis (gli sci) instead of a snowboard, how would the pronoun change?