From sharp-witted to gullible

Prepotente arrives here as an adjective and an English speaker will use it as one: un capo prepotente, a domineering boss. What is worth carrying away is the frame the word sits in when the behaviour rather than the person is meant. Fare il prepotente is to throw one’s weight about, and the shape is fare plus the definite article plus the adjective, with the article obligatory. Non fare il furbo is do not try to be clever; fa il difficile is he is playing hard to get; fa il duro is he acts tough; fare il finto tonto is to play dumb; fare la vittima is to play the victim. English changes the verb almost every time — act, play, try, come over all — and drops the article wherever it can, which is what an English speaker then does in Italian, producing fa difficile, a phrase nobody says. The same frame names a trade, which is a useful hook to hang it on: fa il medico is he is a doctor, word for word he does the doctor. Conduct or occupation, the article stays in.