Breakdown of Il litigio, lo hai iniziato tu!
tu
you (singular)
avere
to have
iniziare
to start
lo
him/it (direct object)
Questions & Answers about Il litigio, lo hai iniziato tu!
Why is there a lo before hai iniziato when il litigio is already mentioned?
This is a common conversational structure called 'left dislocation'. To strongly emphasize the object (il litigio), it is moved to the front of the sentence. When you do this in Italian, you generally must add a matching direct object pronoun (here, lo) before the verb to 'point back' to it. It has the same feel as saying 'The argument, you started it!'
Why is the subject pronoun tu placed at the very end of the sentence?
Placing a subject pronoun at the end of a sentence gives it a strong contrastive emphasis. By putting tu last, the speaker is pointing the finger: YOU started it (and not me, or anyone else). If it were a neutral statement, the tu would typically be dropped or placed at the beginning.
Why does iniziare use the auxiliary verb avere (hai iniziato) here? Doesn't it sometimes take essere?
Iniziare takes avere when someone starts something (a transitive use with a direct object). Since 'you' started 'the argument', avere is correct here. It only takes essere when something starts on its own without a direct object (intransitive), such as Il litigio è iniziato (The argument started).
How would I use this lesson's structure (essere sul punto di) to say 'The argument, you were about to start it!'?