Learn Italian: È disonesto prendere il merito altrui. - It is dishonest to take others' credit.

Altrui means 'other people's' or 'of others'. Unlike most possessive adjectives (like mio or tuo), altrui is invariable and must almost always be placed strictly after the noun it modifies. So, il merito altrui is correct, but l'altrui merito is highly literary and sounds unnatural in modern conversational Italian.

Could I say il merito degli altri instead of il merito altrui?

Yes, absolutely. Il merito altrui and il merito degli altri mean the exact same thing. Using altrui elevates the register slightly, making the sentence sound a bit more formal or elegant, but it is a very common structure in both writing and educated speech.

In English we say 'take credit', but here the word is merito. Can I use credito?

No, in this context you must use merito. While credito translates to 'credit' in a financial or academic sense (like a credit card, carta di credito), when you are talking about deserving praise or recognition for an achievement, Italian uses merito (merit). Therefore, 'to take credit' is translated as prendere il merito.

Why isn't there a preposition like di before prendere?