Trovalo e Trovali

Buona sera,

Buone feste e buon natale!

Ho una domanda chiedere, why does travalo mean find him? How is this word formed? I know that the infinitive verb is "trovare" but I don't kow how travalo or trovali is derived.

Grazie per il tuo tempo!

Hi Jemma,

Trovalo is formed from the verb to find, trovare, and the direct object pronoun lo, meaning him. It's a direct object because it's the recipient of the action of the verb trovare (who do we want to find? .. him). 

Trovali can mean either find them or find you using the formal "you" in the same way.

Google up direct object pronouns for a better explanation than I'm giving! :)

Cheers,
Drew

Hi Jemma and Drew,

Trovalo is made of trova + lo. Trova is the imperative conjugation of the second person singular (tu, informal you).

Trova il mio libro! Find my book!
Trovalo! Find it!

That lo is a pronoun as Drew said and it's used instead of the whole object. Lo is a masculine pronoun, so it can be used for inanimate masculine objects or male human beings (find it, find him).

Trovali follows the same pattern. What's different is the pronoun, li, which is used for more than one object or more than one human being - males or a mixed group.

The formal You conjugations are different:

Lo trovi, to mean Please find it.
Li trovi, to mean Please find them.

Pronouns are detached here and are placed before the verb.

Hope this helps!

Passate delle buone feste! :D
Lucia