Breakdown of Il cliente si lamenta del disservizio, ma non lo faccio risolvere alla governante.
ma
but
non
not
di
of, from
fare
to do / to make
a
to / at
lo
him/it (direct object)
il cliente
the customer
risolvere
to resolve
lamentarsi
to complain
il disservizio
the service failure
la governante
the housekeeper
Questions & Answers about Il cliente si lamenta del disservizio, ma non lo faccio risolvere alla governante.
Why is lo placed before faccio rather than attached to the end of the infinitive as faccio risolverlo?
This sentence uses a causative construction (fare + infinitive), which has a strict rule for pronouns: object clitics must be placed before the conjugated causative verb (lo faccio...). You cannot attach them to the infinitive like you can with standard modal verbs (e.g., you can say voglio risolverlo, but never faccio risolverlo).
Why is the housekeeper introduced with alla (alla governante) instead of just la governante?
In causative structures, if the infinitive verb has a direct object (in this case, lo, representing the service failure), the person being made to do the action must be introduced by the preposition a. Because lo is already the direct object, the housekeeper becomes an indirect object to prevent the sentence from grammatically having two direct objects.
Why does "complains about the" translate to si lamenta del?
The Italian verb for "to complain about" is the reflexive lamentarsi di. It inherently requires the preposition di, which in this case merges with the definite article il (for il disservizio) to form the articulated preposition del.
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