Il rumore allontana il lupo.

Allontana is the third-person singular form of the verb allontanare, which means to move away, to drive away, to keep at a distance, or sometimes to scare off, depending on context.

So in Il rumore allontana il lupo, allontana means something like:

• drives away
• keeps away
• scares off

Literally, the idea is that the noise causes the wolf to go farther away.

Allontanare is the infinitive form, meaning to drive away or to move away.

In a full sentence, Italian normally needs a conjugated verb, not the infinitive. Since the subject is il rumore (the noise), which is third-person singular, the verb becomes:

• allontanare = to drive away
• allontana = drives away

So:

• Il rumore allontana il lupo. = The noise drives the wolf away.

Because there are two masculine singular nouns, and each one needs its own definite article:

• il rumore = the noise
• il lupo = the wolf

In English, this works the same way:

• The noise drives away the wolf.

Italian does not skip the second the here.

In this sentence:

• Il rumore = the subject
• allontana = the verb
• il lupo = the direct object

A native English speaker may wonder this because both noun phrases begin with il and both are singular masculine.

The main clue is word order. Italian usually follows Subject + Verb + Object, especially in simple neutral sentences.

So:

• Il rumore = the thing doing the action
• il lupo = the thing affected by the action

So the meaning is The noise drives away the wolf, not The wolf drives away the noise.

In this sentence, il lupo is grammatically singular and literally means the wolf.

Depending on context, Italian can sometimes use the singular definite article in a general sense, especially when talking about animals or categories. So il lupo could mean:

• the wolf in a specific situation
• or, more generally, the wolf as a type of animal

But if you are just reading the sentence by itself, the most natural interpretation is simply the wolf.

Yes, rumore is masculine singular, which is why it takes il:

• il rumore

You often learn noun gender together with the article, because endings are not always enough by themselves. Although many masculine nouns end in -o, some masculine nouns also end in -e, like:

• il rumore
• il fiore
• il pane

So the safest habit is to learn vocabulary as:

• il rumore = noise

not just rumore by itself.

Because the idea of away is already built into the verb allontanare.

The verb comes from the idea of making something distant/farther away. So:

• allontanare already contains the meaning to move away or to drive away

That is why Italian does not need a separate word exactly matching English away in this sentence.

So:

• Il rumore allontana il lupo naturally means
• The noise drives the wolf away

not just The noise distances the wolf in a stiff literal sense.

Yes, you could, but it is a different structure and usually less direct.

• Il rumore allontana il lupo = The noise drives the wolf away.
• Il rumore fa allontanare il lupo = The noise makes the wolf move away.

The second version is more explicitly causative and can sound a bit heavier. In a simple sentence like this, allontana is more natural and compact.

Yes, Italian word order is more flexible than English, but the basic order here is the most neutral:

• Il rumore allontana il lupo.

You might also see something like:

• Il lupo lo allontana il rumore in a marked or emphatic structure, though that is much less basic and not what learners should start with.

For normal everyday use, stick with:

• Subject + Verb + Object

So this sentence is a good standard model.

A helpful approximate pronunciation is:

ahl-lon-TAH-na

A few points:

• the ll is like English l
• gli is not involved here, so nothing unusual there
• the stress is on -ta-: allonTÀna

And the full sentence is approximately:

eel roo-MOH-reh ahl-lon-TAH-na eel LOO-poh

That is only an approximation for English speakers, but it is a useful start.

It is in the present indicative:

• allontana = drives away / is driving away

In Italian, the present tense can describe:

1. what is happening now
   • The noise is driving the wolf away
2. a general fact or habitual truth
   • Noise drives wolves away

So without extra context, the sentence can work either as:

• a specific present action
• or a general statement

That is very common in both Italian and English.

There is a related reflexive verb, allontanarsi, which means to move away or to go away oneself.

Compare:

• Il rumore allontana il lupo. = The noise drives the wolf away.
  Here, something causes the wolf to go away.

• Il lupo si allontana. = The wolf moves away.
  Here, the wolf itself moves away.

So in your sentence, allontana is not reflexive. It is a normal transitive verb taking a direct object:

• il lupo = the thing being driven away