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Le basta un muletto per il rifornimento, signora?

Le basta un muletto per il rifornimento, signora?
Is a forklift enough for you for the restocking, madam?
From Lesson 385:Verbs of necessity and lack (mancare, servire, bastare)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Le basta un muletto per il rifornimento, signora?

Why is the verb basta in the third person singular instead of matching the person being spoken to?
Bastare (to be enough) is an inverse-valency verb. In Italian, the person who needs something is the indirect object (Le, meaning 'to you'), and the thing that is enough is the grammatical subject. Since the subject is un muletto (a forklift), the verb takes the third-person singular form basta.
If the lady needed two forklifts, how would this sentence change?
It would become Le bastano due muletti... Because the forklifts are the grammatical subject of the sentence, the verb must agree with them. If the subject becomes plural, the verb changes to the third-person plural bastano.
Why is the pronoun Le used here instead of ti?
The speaker is addressing a signora (madam), which requires the formal register. Le is the formal indirect object pronoun for 'to you'. If this were an informal conversation with a friend, you would use ti instead: Ti basta un muletto...?
Why does the subject un muletto come after the verb basta rather than before it?
With inverse-valency verbs like bastare, mancare, and piacere, it is very natural to put the subject after the verb. This word order is preferred in Italian because it places the spoken emphasis on the new or most important information: the thing that is being evaluated or needed.

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