Breakdown of Il fondatore è sopra di loro nella gerarchia del gruppo.
essere
to be
loro
they
in
in / made of (material)
di
of, from
Questions & Answers about Il fondatore è sopra di loro nella gerarchia del gruppo.
Why do we need di in sopra di loro? Couldn't we just say sopra loro?
If I wanted to say 'above the managers' instead of 'above them', would I still use di?
No, you would drop the di. The rule of adding di only applies when these specific prepositions are followed by a personal pronoun. To say 'above the managers', you simply say sopra i manager without any extra preposition.
Could we use su instead of sopra here to mean 'above'?
Not naturally in this context. While both can translate to 'on' or 'above', su typically implies direct physical contact or is used as an articulated preposition (like sul tavolo). Sopra is the right choice here because it expresses a higher position in a figurative sense, perfectly matching the idea of a rank in a hierarchy.
Why is it loro and not an object pronoun like li or le?