Breakdown of Stavamo discutendo su dove mettere l'amplificatore e l'altoparlante.
e
and
dove
where
mettere
to put / to put on / play (music)
stare
to stay, to feel, to be
su
on, about
discutere
to discuss
l'amplificatore
amplifier
l'altoparlante
speaker (loudspeaker)
Questions & Answers about Stavamo discutendo su dove mettere l'amplificatore e l'altoparlante.
Why is mettere in the infinitive instead of a conjugated verb?
This is an implicit indirect question. Because the people doing the discussing ("we") are the same people who will do the putting, Italian uses the question word dove followed directly by the infinitive mettere. It matches the English structure "where to put" perfectly.
Why is there a su before dove? In English we just say "discussing where..."
Unlike the English verb "discuss," the Italian verb discutere rarely takes a direct object. It requires a preposition to introduce the topic—usually di or su (meaning "about" or "on"). Here, su connects the main verb to the subordinate indirect question.
Could I use di instead of su to mean "discussing about"?
Yes, stavamo discutendo di dove mettere... is perfectly natural and correct. Su is often preferred when introducing a specific practical issue or a subordinate clause like this one, but in everyday speech, di and su are practically interchangeable here.
Altoparlante looks like a compound word. Are there any tricky rules for making it plural?
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