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I followed him into his room because it says 'seguito'. If the auxiliary verb is a form of 'avere', the participle (seguito) agrees with the object, in this case l' (lo). If you wanted to say 'I followed her into her room' you'd say 'L'ho seguita nella sua stanza'. Not a native speaker but pretty sure this is correct.
This is true. When you elide/contract your object pronoun (lo/la/li/le) you must make sure the object agrees so the listener knows who you're talking about. So yes, "I followed her" would be "La ho seguito" (GENERALLY INCORRECT IN SPOKEN ITALIAN BUT NOT INCORRECT IN WRITTEN ITALIAN) or "L'ho seguita" (ACCEPTED IN SPOKEN, SO THIS IS HOW WE ALWAYS WRITE IT).
However the alternative ending "I followed HIM into HER room", while maybe a bit ambiguous, should be correct and at the moment is being marked as wrong. There would be a number of contexts where it would be appropriate. For example, a little story:
"Io e il poliziotto stavamo investigando l'omicido della ragazza. L'ho seguito nella sua stanza". Or in English: "The police officer and I were investigating the girl's murder. I followed him into her room."
Ambiguous, but it may make sense in context.
It's also done if a pronoun is used for the object. I think this is because you can't tell whether it's lo, la, li or le when it is abbreviated like this so you can tell from the past participle.
I'm not a native speaker either so this might be wrong.
I can't wait to find out who the killer is. And why did he follow his brother? Did the same person kill her and the two brothers? Was the wine poisoned? He called, but his aunts didn't pick up the phone. And why is the hedge dead?
And is this connected to the man who was found in the bathtub? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir5czCiOpsk :)
In Italian in contrary to English and German the prepositions used with movement or status are the same.
Sono a Roma = I am at Rome.
Corro a Roma. = I run to Rome. OR I run in Rome.
Sono in Sicilia = I am in Sicily.
Corro in Sicilia = I run to Sicily. OR I run in Sicily.
It's the same in this case, unfortunately it's ambiguous. It could be: I followed him into his/her room OR I followed him in his/her room.
Normally it's obvious by context if not Italians would express it in a different way, for example: Mentre eravamo nella stanza l'ho seguito...
Thanks sandra - please apply your expertise to sorting the language - that last sentence is one hell of a construction to force folks through. Many thanks.
When you have l'ho or something like that, and the gender is omitted, you look to the ending. seguito would be for a male, seguita for a woman. It's confusing.
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Could it be "i followed it to it's room"? Like if it were a cat. I know it's a stretch but just wondering.
