Word
Volevo dire appunto quello che hai detto tu.
Meaning
I meant exactly what you said.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Volevo dire appunto quello che hai detto tu.
volere
to want
dire
to say, to tell
appunto
exactly, precisely
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Questions & Answers about Volevo dire appunto quello che hai detto tu.
Why is appunto used here, and how does it fit with words like infatti?
Appunto translates to "exactly" or "precisely" in this context. Like infatti (indeed/in fact), it is a confirmatory discourse marker. While infatti confirms a previous statement by showing agreement or evidence, appunto emphasizes exactness. Here, it highlights that the speaker's intention perfectly matches the other person's words.
Why use the imperfect tense volevo dire instead of the passato prossimo ho voluto dire?
The imperfect tense volevo describes an ongoing state of mind or a past intention. If you used the passato prossimo ho voluto, it would sound like a sudden, finished action. Volevo dire is the most natural and common way to translate "I meant" or "I was meaning to say" in Italian.
Why is the subject pronoun tu placed at the very end of the sentence?
In Italian, you can usually drop the subject pronoun because the verb ending already tells us who is acting. When a pronoun like tu is included and placed at the very end of the phrase, it adds strong emphasis. Quello che hai detto tu specifically highlights that they meant exactly what you said, as opposed to what someone else said.
Could I use cosa instead of quello che to mean "what" in this sentence?