L'assicuratore legge la polizza.

Because the definite article shortens before a vowel.

The noun assicuratore begins with a, so Italian uses l' instead of the full article:

• il
  • vowel-starting masculine noun becomes l'
• la
  • vowel-starting feminine noun also becomes l'

So:

• l'assicuratore = the insurer

You do not say il assicuratore.

Because polizza is a feminine singular noun, so it takes the feminine singular definite article la.

A very common pattern is:

• masculine singular: il, lo, or l'
• feminine singular: la or l'

Here:

• la polizza = the policy

The ending -a often suggests a feminine noun in Italian, and polizza follows that pattern.

Here legge is the third-person singular present tense of the verb leggere, meaning to read.

So:

• io leggo = I read
• tu leggi = you read
• lui/lei legge = he/she reads

In this sentence, l'assicuratore legge la polizza means that the insurer reads the policy.

Yes. The Italian present tense often covers both ideas.

So legge can mean:

• reads in a general or habitual sense
• is reading in a right-now sense

The exact meaning depends on context. Without extra context, English could translate it either way.

Italian uses articles very often, sometimes more often than English learners expect.

In this sentence:

• l'assicuratore = the insurer
• la polizza = the policy

Both the subject and the object are specific nouns, so using the definite article is completely normal. In Italian, leaving articles out would usually sound unnatural here.

The normal word order here is:

subject + verb + object

So:

• l'assicuratore = the subject, the one doing the action
• legge = the verb
• la polizza = the object, the thing being read

Italian word order can be more flexible than English, but this sentence follows the basic and most common pattern.

Yes. Legge can also be a feminine noun meaning law.

So Italian has:

• la legge = the law
• legge = he/she reads

They are spelled the same, but the grammar makes the meaning clear.

In L'assicuratore legge la polizza, legge is clearly a verb because it comes after the subject and before the object.

A helpful approximate pronunciation is:

lahs-see-koo-rah-TOH-reh LEHD-jeh lah poh-LEET-tsah

A few useful points:

• l'assicuratore: the l' links directly to the next word
• gg in legge sounds like the sound in English j in jam, but held slightly longer
• zz in polizza sounds like ts

The main stress falls like this:

• assicuraTOre
• LEGge
• poLIZza

The plural forms are:

• l'assicuratore → gli assicuratori
• la polizza → le polizze
• legge → leggono if the subject becomes plural

So the full plural sentence would be:

Gli assicuratori leggono le polizze.

That means The insurers read the policies.

The dictionary form is leggere, meaning to read.

In vocabulary lists, Italian verbs are usually given in the infinitive form, such as:

• leggere = to read
• scrivere = to write
• vedere = to see

So when you see legge in a sentence, you should recognize it as a conjugated form of leggere.