Breakdown of La carrozzeria è arrugginita, la comincio a restaurare oggi.
essere
to be
oggi
today
la
her/it (direct object)
restaurare
to restore
a
(linking a verb to a following infinitive)
cominciare
to begin
arrugginito
rusty
la carrozzeria
the bodywork
Questions & Answers about La carrozzeria è arrugginita, la comincio a restaurare oggi.
Why is la placed before comincio instead of attached to restaurare?
With aspectual verbs like cominciare a (to start to), you have a choice with object pronouns. You can attach the pronoun to the end of the infinitive (comincio a restaurarla) or move it before the conjugated verb (la comincio a restaurare). This movement is called clitic climbing, and both options are completely correct and mean the same thing.
What does the pronoun la refer to in the second half of the sentence?
It is a direct object pronoun standing in for la carrozzeria from the first clause. Since carrozzeria is a feminine singular noun, we use la to express the English word "it".
Why is the preposition a used between comincio and restaurare?
When the verb cominciare is followed by an infinitive verb, it requires the preposition a as a bridge. As a quick refresher, different aspectual verbs require different prepositions; for example, if you used finire (to finish), you would need di instead of a.
Why does arrugginita end in -a?
Here, arrugginita is the past participle of arrugginire functioning as an adjective to describe the state of La carrozzeria. Because carrozzeria is a feminine singular noun, the participle must agree in gender and number.
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