English Translation
They are said to be criminals. But are they really?
I am a confused about the use of “lo” here.
2 Likes
I strongly suspect that the same rule as in French applies here: neutral pronoun to refer to a preceding phrase or segment of phrase.
Ils sont italiens. Je pense qu’ils le sont.
4 Likes
Good explanation! Thank you.
It is the same in German:
“Man sagt, sie seien Kriminelle. Aber sind sie es wirklich?”
Without much thinking I would have felt that the sentence “Ma sono davvero.” is missing something.
Therefore, I would have said “Ma sono davvero così?” and I now wonder if that would have been correct, too.
3 Likes
English Translation
They are said to be criminals. But are they really?
Just to add to the other comments, it is indeed a neutral pronoun.
It’s important to note that this is only used with essere. A neutral pronoun is always used with essere when referring back to an identity, role, or characteristic.
For example:
“Penso che Maria sia Italiana, ma lo è?”
The response also doesn’t need to be a question.
“Si dice che siano dei criminali. E lo sono, purtroppo”
2 Likes