Breakdown of Pensavo a un taglio scalato, tranne dietro.
un
a / an (masculine)
a
to / at
dietro
behind
pensare
to think
Questions & Answers about Pensavo a un taglio scalato, tranne dietro.
Why is pensavo in the imperfect tense here if the person is currently at the hairdresser asking for a haircut?
This is the imperfetto attenuativo (mitigating imperfect). Even though the speaker is expressing a present desire, using the imperfect makes the request sound softer, less demanding, and more polite, similar to saying "I was thinking..." in English.
Why do we use the preposition a in Pensavo a un taglio instead of di?
In Italian, the verb pensare always takes the preposition a when you mean "to think about" or "to direct your thoughts toward" a noun. Even though we translate it as "thinking of" in English, using di here would be incorrect. You only use pensare di when it is followed by an infinitive verb, meaning "to plan to do something".
What does the word scalato literally mean in this context?
Why is there no preposition between tranne and dietro?
The word tranne (except) can directly precede adverbs of place like dietro (behind or in the back), davanti (in front), or fuori (outside). Unlike in English where we might say "except in the back", you do not need to add a preposition before the adverb in Italian.