Questa legge è nazionale.

to be

Breakdown of Questa legge è nazionale.

• questo: this
• la legge: the law
• nazionale: national

Questions & Answers about Questa legge è nazionale.

Why is it questa and not questo?

Because legge is a feminine singular noun in Italian.

• questo = this for masculine singular nouns
• questa = this for feminine singular nouns

So:

• questo libro = this book
• questa legge = this law

The demonstrative has to agree with the noun in gender and number.

How do I know that legge is feminine?

In Italian, every noun has a grammatical gender. Legge is simply a feminine noun, so the words connected to it must also be feminine:

• questa legge
• la legge
• una legge

Its plural is leggi, and it stays feminine:

• queste leggi = these laws

You usually learn a noun’s gender together with the noun itself.

Why is there no article before nazionale?

Because nazionale is an adjective, not a noun.

In Questa legge è nazionale, the structure is:

• Questa legge = subject
• è = is
• nazionale = adjective describing the subject

So it works like:

• This law is national

You would only use an article if nazionale were being used as a noun in some different sentence, which is not the case here.