La tomaia è scollata.

The upper is coming unglued.

Breakdown of La tomaia è scollata.

• essere: to be
• la tomaia: the upper (of a shoe)
• scollato: coming unglued

Questions & Answers about La tomaia è scollata.

Why is it la tomaia and not il tomaia?

Because tomaia is a feminine singular noun in Italian.
So it takes:

• la = the (feminine singular)
• è = is
• scollata = feminine singular adjective/past participle

Everything agrees with tomaia.

What exactly is tomaia grammatically?

Tomaia is a noun. In shoe-related language, it refers to the upper part of a shoe.

Its basic pattern is:

• singular: la tomaia
• plural: le tomaie

So if you were talking about more than one, you would say Le tomaie sono scollate.

Why does scollata end in -a?

Because it agrees with the feminine singular noun tomaia.

Italian adjectives and many past participles must agree in gender and number with the noun they describe.

Here is the pattern:

• masculine singular: scollato
• feminine singular: scollata
• masculine plural: scollati
• feminine plural: scollate

Since tomaia is feminine singular, the correct form is scollata.

Is scollata an adjective or a past participle?