Breakdown of Non sappiamo dove mettere l'amplificatore e come comporre la melodia.
e
and
non
not
dove
where
mettere
to put / to put on / play (music)
come
how
sapere
to know
l'amplificatore
the amplifier (m)
comporre
to compose
la melodia
the melody
Questions & Answers about Non sappiamo dove mettere l'amplificatore e come comporre la melodia.
Why do we use the infinitive verbs mettere and comporre after the question words dove and come?
This is an implicit indirect question. When you have a question word (like dove, come, cosa, or chi) and the subject doing the action is the same as in the main clause, you can just use the infinitive. It maps perfectly to English: 'where to put' and 'how to compose'.
Can I always use the infinitive after a question word to form an indirect question?
No, you can only use this implicit (infinitive) structure if the subject of the main verb is the same as the subject of the indirect question. Since 'we' do not know and 'we' are the ones who will put the amplifier and compose the melody, the infinitive works perfectly here. If the subjects were different (for example, 'We do not know where he put the amplifier'), you would have to conjugate the verb.
Why do we use sappiamo here instead of conosciamo?
Sapere is used when knowing a fact, a piece of information, or how to do something. Crucially, any time you introduce a secondary clause (like these indirect questions starting with dove and come), you must use sapere. Conoscere means 'to be acquainted with' and is only followed by a direct object noun (like a person, place, or thing), never a clause.
What would this sentence look like if it were an explicit indirect question?
To make it explicit, you would conjugate the verbs, usually adding a modal verb like dovere (must/have to) to capture the same meaning: Non sappiamo dove dobbiamo mettere l'amplificatore e come dobbiamo comporre la melodia. The implicit version with the infinitive is much more concise and natural here.
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