Word
Non ho i ricambi, quindi li comincio a ordinare.
Meaning
I do not have the spare parts, so I am starting to order them.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Non ho i ricambi, quindi li comincio a ordinare.
non
not
avere
to have
ordinare
to order
li
them (masculine direct object)
Questions & Answers about Non ho i ricambi, quindi li comincio a ordinare.
Why is li placed before comincio rather than attached to the end of ordinare?
With aspectual verbs like cominciare a (to start to), you have a choice. You can attach the direct object pronoun to the infinitive (comincio a ordinarli) or 'climb' it to the front of the conjugated verb, as seen here with li comincio a ordinare. Both structures are completely natural and mean the exact same thing.
Would it be wrong to say comincio a li ordinare?
Yes, that is grammatically incorrect. Object pronouns can only go immediately before a conjugated verb or attached to the very end of an infinitive. They cannot sit as separate words between a preposition like a and an infinitive. If you attach it to the end, remember to drop the final e of the infinitive to make ordinarli.
Why is there an a between comincio and ordinare?
The verb cominciare always requires the preposition a when it is followed by an infinitive verb. If you were using a different aspectual verb like finire (to finish), you would need the preposition di instead.