Il giradischi è traballante.

Literally, giradischi is made from gira and dischi:

• gira = turns / spins
• dischi = records / discs

So the word originally means something like record-spinner, which is why it means record player or turntable.

It is a single noun in modern Italian, not something learners normally need to analyze every time they see it.

Italian uses il before most masculine singular nouns.

You use lo only before certain sounds, such as nouns beginning with:

• s + consonant: lo studente
• z: lo zaino
• ps: lo psicologo
• gn: lo gnomo
• x: lo xilofono

Since giradischi begins with a normal g sound, the correct article is il.

Because Italian gender is not determined only by the final letter. While many masculine singular nouns end in -o, some nouns do not follow that pattern.

Giradischi is a compound noun, and its gender is masculine, so it takes:

• il giradischi = the record player
• i giradischi = the record players

So here, the article tells you the gender clearly.

The plural is i giradischi.

This noun is usually invariable, meaning the noun itself does not change form between singular and plural. The article changes instead:

• il giradischi = the record player
• i giradischi = the record players

This is common with some compound nouns in Italian.

The accent is important because è and e are different words:

• è = is
• e = and

So in Il giradischi è traballante, è is the third-person singular of essere (to be).

Traballante is an adjective. It means something like:

• wobbly
• unstable
• shaky

It describes the noun giradischi.

So the sentence structure is:

• Il giradischi = subject
• è = verb
• traballante = adjective describing the subject

Because it agrees with giradischi, which is masculine singular.

With adjectives ending in -ante, the singular form is usually the same for masculine and feminine:

• il tavolo è traballante
• la sedia è traballante

But the plural changes to -anti:

• i tavoli sono traballanti
• le sedie sono traballanti

So in your sentence, singular traballante is exactly right.

Yes, but it means something slightly different.

• Il giradischi è traballante = the record player is wobbly / unstable as a characteristic or condition
• Il giradischi sta traballando = the record player is wobbling right now

So è traballante describes a state or quality, while sta traballando emphasizes an action in progress.

No. This is a very standard Italian sentence pattern:

subject + essere + adjective

So:

• Il giradischi = subject
• è = is
• traballante = wobbly

That is the most neutral and natural order.

You could change the order for emphasis in some contexts, but the basic version is the normal one.

A rough pronunciation guide is:

eel jee-ra-DEE-skee eh trah-bal-LAN-teh

A few notes:

• gi in giradischi sounds like the j in jam
• schi sounds like skee
• è is an open eh sound
• ll in traballante is pronounced clearly, unlike in English
• the stress is roughly on -di- in giradischi and -lan- in traballante

Normally, no. In a regular sentence, you would usually say Il giradischi è traballante.

Italian often uses the definite article where English may or may not use one. Without il, the sentence sounds incomplete or unnatural in ordinary speech.

You might see a bare noun without an article in labels, titles, notes, or very special styles, but not as the normal form here.

Most commonly, yes: it describes something physically unsteady, shaky, or not firm.

For example:

• un tavolo traballante = a wobbly table
• una sedia traballante = a shaky chair

Sometimes it can also be used more figuratively for something unstable, but in this sentence the physical meaning is the most natural one.