ossobuco wrote:My memory from my italian classes is that italians often put the verb first. We don't do that so much in english; I never mastered the connotations of difference, as I had enough trouble with verb endings without worrying about that. I think it was explained as a matter of emphasis.
There is also a difference when the subject or any complement is not explicit. The usual way to construct a sentence is:
-subject- -verb- -direct object- -complement-
es. "Mario (Subject) compra (verb) una mela (Direct object) per Antonio (complement)
when you don't specify the object, using an article, instead you must put it directly before the verb and you can put everything before the subject, the article is usually coordinated to the last substantive of the previous phrase or to something that both who speaks and who listen well know so...
la (object) comprerà Sandro (subject) per Antonio (complement)
or...
Mario (subject) la (object) comprerà per Antonio (complement)
Note that you can use this kind of phrase only if the object is not directly expressed, because "La mela comprerà Sandro" would mean that the apple will buy Sandro (which is obviously possible even if I don't think such a big computer company would find Sandro (who is a lawyer, friend of mine) useful in any way!
)
They'll never see my face again.
