Breakdown of «Qui mancano le virgolette», disse il redattore.
qui
here
dire
to say, to tell
mancare
to be missing / to lack
le virgolette
quotation marks
il redattore
editor
Questions & Answers about «Qui mancano le virgolette», disse il redattore.
Why is it disse il redattore and not il redattore disse?
Why is the verb mancano in the plural here?
Because its subject is the plural noun le virgolette (the quotation marks). Just like in the reporting clause, this is another example of a post-verbal subject! In Italian, with verbs that indicate existence, lacking, or arriving (like mancare, piacere, or succedere), the subject very frequently follows the verb. The sentence is literally structured as 'Here, are lacking the quotation marks'.
Where does the word virgolette come from?
It is the diminutive plural form of virgola (comma). So virgolette literally translates to 'little commas'. It is the standard Italian word for quotation marks, regardless of whether they are the printed chevron style used in this sentence or standard high double commas.
Why use the passato remoto (disse) instead of the passato prossimo (ha detto)?
Written narratives and literature in Italian traditionally use the passato remoto (historical past) for completed actions, such as dialogue tags. Since this sentence uses formal punctuation and inversion, disse fits the literary style much better than the conversational ha detto.
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