Learn Italian: Ho comprato il cruscotto nuovo e lo finisco di montare oggi. - I bought the new dashboard, and I will finish mounting it today.

With aspectual verbs like finire di, iniziare a, and continuare a, you have a choice. You can pull the pronoun forward and place it before the conjugated verb, as seen here with lo finisco di montare. The alternative, finisco di montarlo, is equally correct and means the exact same thing.

Why do we need the word di between finisco and montare?

The verb finire requires the preposition di when it is followed by an infinitive verb. Other aspectual verbs take different prepositions (like iniziare a or continuare a), but finire always links to the next action with di.

The English translation says 'I will finish', but finisco is in the present tense. Is this common in Italian?

Yes! In Italian, the present tense is frequently used to talk about the near future or planned actions, especially when there is a time marker in the sentence like oggi (today). You could also use the future tense (lo finirò di montare), but the present is very natural and conversational here.

What exactly does the pronoun lo replace in this sentence?