English Translation
I thought you’d seen this movie.
I’m wondering if this should be “I thought he had seen this film” unless the “lo” (it) is for emphasis, and the phrase is Formal.
Thanks for any help… Confused of ClozeM
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Hi @Floria7, I think it can be he/she/you (formal), depending on context. The surprising thing for me is the “lo”, which I suppose is a colloquial phenomenon.
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Hi @morbrorper indeed. I also wondered if this lo was in fact an “io” slipped in for emphasis but printed out as lo.
Non ti preoccupare, credo che ora tutto vada bene;-)
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I guess the “lo” might also just be to emphasise “questo film”? Though would it not normally be contracted? “Pensavo l’avesse visto, questo film”?
Indeed @sindaco. I’ll ask our Piero;-)
Am now a huge Fantozzi fan especially the Italy v Scotland football :-DDD
Ciao ciao!
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@sindaco Ciao di nuovo. Hai ragione riguardo “lo”. Ecco una spiegazione: L’aggiunta del pronome ‘lo’ serve a mettere enfasi su ‘film’: lo avesse visto = l’avesse visto (entrambi sono corretti).
This from our friend Emanuela.
A dopo…
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Yes. In this case you can omit “lo” without changing the meaning too much, but the way it is phrased, you put the emphasis on the fact that it is this movie that you taught he saw.
The full sentence would be
“Pensavo che lui lo avesse visto, questo film.”
The subject “lui” is not needed, as the verb conjugation is enough to infer we are talking of a third person,
“lo” is used as a direct object, and can only be used before the verb.
We don’t say “Pensavo questo film avesse visto”
, but adding “lo” as in “Pensavo che questo film lo avesse visto.” makes the sentence feel correct again, and it puts the object “questo film” in a more prominent position, so it also emphasizes it.
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Great spiegazione, mille grazie! The version with that tiny comma was so helpful.
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