Breakdown of Le ho spiegato come suonare la melodia senza lo spartito.
avere
to have
come
how
senza
without
spiegare
to explain
suonare
to play (an instrument)
le
to her
lo spartito
the sheet music
la melodia
the melody
Questions & Answers about Le ho spiegato come suonare la melodia senza lo spartito.
Why do we use the infinitive suonare right after come?
This is an implicit indirect question. Italian uses the question word come followed directly by the infinitive to express how to do something. Notice that even though the main subject is I, the implied subject of suonare is her. Verbs of explaining or instructing like spiegare allow the implicit infinitive to refer to the main clause's indirect object (Le).
Could we use a conjugated verb here instead of the infinitive?
Yes, you could make the indirect question explicit by saying come deve suonare (how she must play). However, for a general how-to explanation, the implicit infinitive form come suonare is much more concise, natural, and common.
Why does the sentence use Le instead of the direct object pronoun La?
The verb spiegare takes an indirect object for the person receiving the explanation, answering the question to whom. Therefore, we must use the indirect object pronoun Le (to her) rather than a direct object pronoun.
Why is the article lo used before spartito?
The masculine noun spartito (sheet music or score) begins with an s followed by a consonant. Italian requires the definite article lo instead of il for masculine nouns starting with an s plus consonant cluster.
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