Breakdown of Ho perso il passaporto: devo andare in ambasciata.
in
in / made of (material)
andare
to go / to be fine / to work out
dovere
must
perdere
to lose, to miss
il passaporto
the passport
l'ambasciata
the embassy (f)
Questions & Answers about Ho perso il passaporto: devo andare in ambasciata.
Since this lesson is about object pronouns, how would I say "I lost it" if I already mentioned the passport?
You would say L'ho perso. The pronoun lo (it, replacing the masculine passaporto) merges with ho to become l'ho. In the passato prossimo, the past participle must agree with the direct object pronouns lo, la, li, and le. Since lo is masculine singular, perso ends in -o. If you lost a feminine object, it would be L'ho persa.
Why does the Italian sentence say il passaporto (the passport) instead of il mio passaporto (my passport)?
In Italian, you typically drop the possessive word (like mio) for obvious personal belongings, clothing, or body parts. Since you are the one who lost it, the listener already knows it is yours, so the definite article il is enough.
Why use in for in ambasciata instead of a or alla?
Many public places, offices, and shops ending in -ia take the preposition in with no article. You will see this same pattern with in farmacia (to the pharmacy) and in pizzeria (to the pizzeria).
Is perso a regular past participle?
No, it is the irregular past participle of perdere (to lose). If it were regular, it would end in -uto (like credere becomes creduto), but instead it becomes perso.
Learn Ho perso il passaporto: devo andare in ambasciata and more in Italian
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free