Log inSign up

Hai scritto tu qualcosa di bello sul cartello? No, l'ha scritto Luca.

Hai scritto tu qualcosa di bello sul cartello? No, l'ha scritto Luca.
Did you write something nice on the sign? No, Luca wrote it.
From Lesson 363:Contrastive focus (lo faccio io)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Hai scritto tu qualcosa di bello sul cartello? No, l'ha scritto Luca.

Why are tu and Luca placed after the verbs (Hai scritto tu, l'ha scritto Luca) instead of before them?
Putting the subject after the verb puts special emphasis on who did the action. In English, we usually show this with vocal stress, like 'Did YOU write something... No, LUCA wrote it.' In Italian, moving the subject pronoun (tu) or noun (Luca) after the verb makes this contrastive focus clear.
Why is there a di between qualcosa and bello?
When you follow an indefinite pronoun like qualcosa (something) or niente (nothing) with an adjective, you must connect them with the preposition di. So 'something nice' becomes qualcosa di bello.
What does the l' in l'ha scritto stand for?
It stands for lo, the direct object pronoun meaning 'it', referring back to the message that was written. When lo or la comes before a verb starting with a form of avere that begins with 'h' or a vowel, it drops its own vowel and becomes l'.
Does the past participle scritto in l'ha scritto have to agree with the pronoun?
Yes. When you use the direct object pronouns lo, la, li, or le before a compound tense like the passato prossimo, the past participle must agree with the pronoun in gender and number. Since lo is masculine singular, the participle ends in -o (scritto).

Learn Hai scritto tu qualcosa di bello sul cartello? No, l'ha scritto Luca 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
Start learning Italian →