Studiamo la storia cinese.

Studiamo is the 1st person plural form of studiare in the present tense.

• io studio = I study
• tu studi = you study
• lui/lei studia = he/she studies
• noi studiamo = we study
• voi studiate = you all study
• loro studiano = they study

So studiamo means we study in this sentence.

A useful extra note: depending on context, studiamo can also mean let’s study, since that form can be used for suggestions too.

Italian often omits subject pronouns when they are not needed. The verb ending already tells you who the subject is.

Here, -iamo shows that the subject is noi (we), so saying noi is usually unnecessary.

• Studiamo la storia cinese. = normal, natural
• Noi studiamo la storia cinese. = also correct, but more emphatic, like we study Chinese history

Italian uses the definite article much more often than English.

In la storia cinese, la is used because Italian normally says the history when speaking about a subject, field, or discipline.

So even though English often says Chinese history without the, Italian naturally says:

• la storia cinese
• la matematica
• la musica
• la letteratura italiana

Leaving out la here would usually sound unnatural in standard Italian.

In Italian, adjectives often come after the noun, especially when they classify or describe it in a straightforward way.

So:

• la storia cinese = Chinese history
• literally: the history Chinese

This is very normal with nationality-related adjectives:

• la cucina italiana = Italian cuisine
• la lingua spagnola = Spanish language
• la letteratura francese = French literature

Because cinese belongs to a group of adjectives that have the same singular form for masculine and feminine.

So you get:

• il libro cinese = the Chinese book
• la storia cinese = the Chinese history

In the plural, both masculine and feminine become cinesi:

• i libri cinesi
• le storie cinesi

So cinese matches storia correctly.

In Italian, adjectives and nouns for nationality, language, and similar categories are normally not capitalized.

So Italian writes:

• cinese
• italiano
• francese
• spagnolo

This is different from English, where Chinese is capitalized.

Usually, no—not in standard, natural Italian for this meaning.

Studiamo la storia cinese is the normal form.
Without the article, storia cinese sounds incomplete or unnatural in most contexts.

Italian often keeps the article with school subjects, academic fields, and abstract areas of study.

The normal word order here is:

verb + article + noun + adjective
Studiamo la storia cinese.

That is the most neutral and natural order.

Italian can change word order for emphasis, but that is less basic and depends on context. For example, you might move parts around in spoken language for contrast or style, but the standard learner-friendly order is the one in the sentence.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

stoo-DYAH-mo la STO-rya chee-NEH-ze

A few helpful points:

• st in studiamo is like English st
• di before a in -diamo sounds like dyah
• storia has two clear syllables after sto: sto-ria
• ci in cinese sounds like chee
• se at the end sounds like zeh, not like English see

Yes, it can, depending on context.

On its own, studiamo may mean either:

• we study
• let’s study

In a plain statement like Studiamo la storia cinese, it is often understood as we study Chinese history.
But in the right situation—especially in conversation—it could also mean let’s study Chinese history.

Context, tone, and punctuation usually make the meaning clear.

The structure is:

Studiamo = verb
la storia cinese = direct object noun phrase

More specifically:

• la = definite article
• storia = noun
• cinese = adjective modifying storia

So the sentence pattern is:

[Verb] + [article + noun + adjective]

This is a very common Italian sentence structure.