Breakdown of Non sappiamo dove mettere lo stand dell'espositore.
non
not
dove
where
di
of, from
mettere
to put / to put on / play (music)
sapere
to know
lo stand
the stand
l'espositore
the exhibitor
Questions & Answers about Non sappiamo dove mettere lo stand dell'espositore.
Why does the English loanword stand take the article lo instead of il?
Even though it is a foreign loanword, Italian article rules still apply based on the word's pronunciation. Because stand begins with an s followed by a consonant (an s impura), it requires the article lo. Remember that foreign nouns ending in a consonant are invariable in Italian, so the plural would be gli stand (no -s at the end).
Why is the infinitive mettere used here rather than a conjugated verb?
This is an implicit indirect question. When the subject of the main clause (Noi non sappiamo) is the same as the implied subject of the question (where we should put it), Italian routinely pairs an interrogative word like dove, come, or cosa directly with an infinitive. It mirrors the English structure "where to put".
If we decided to conjugate the verb instead of using the infinitive, would we need the subjunctive here?
With indirect questions governed by the verb sapere, the indicative (or future) is actually more common than the subjunctive, because knowing (or not knowing) states a fact about your current knowledge. You could say Non sappiamo dove metteremo lo stand (We don't know where we will put the stand). However, the infinitive is the most natural choice when the subjects match.
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