Il calzolaio spazzola la pelle scamosciata.

Il is the masculine singular definite article, equivalent to the in English.

It is used before most singular masculine nouns that begin with a consonant, such as calzolaio.

Compare:

• il calzolaio = the cobbler
• il libro = the book

Italian articles change depending on gender, number, and sometimes the sound at the beginning of the following word.

Italian uses il before most masculine singular nouns beginning with a normal consonant sound.

Lo is used only before certain sound combinations, such as:

• s
  • consonant: lo studente
• z: lo zio
• ps: lo psicologo
• gn: lo gnomo

Since calzolaio begins with a simple c sound, the correct article is il.

Here, spazzola is a verb, not a noun.

It is the third person singular present tense of spazzolare, meaning to brush.

So:

• io spazzolo = I brush
• tu spazzoli = you brush
• lui/lei spazzola = he/she brushes

In this sentence, Il calzolaio spazzola... means The cobbler brushes...

As a noun, spazzola can also mean brush, but in this sentence the structure makes it clearly a verb.

Italian often leaves out subject pronouns when they are not needed. This is called being a pro-drop language.

The verb ending already tells you the subject is he/she/it:

• spazzola = he/she brushes

Because the noun Il calzolaio is already there, adding lui would usually be unnecessary.

So Italian says:

• Il calzolaio spazzola la pelle scamosciata.

English needs:

• The cobbler brushes the suede leather.

Pelle is a feminine singular noun, so it takes the feminine singular definite article la.

So:

• la pelle = the leather / the skin, depending on context

In this sentence, it refers to leather material, not skin.

Because scamosciata is an adjective describing pelle, and in Italian adjectives usually agree with the noun they describe in gender and number.

Since pelle is feminine singular, the adjective must also be feminine singular:

• masculine singular: scamosciato
• feminine singular: scamosciata
• masculine plural: scamosciati
• feminine plural: scamosciate

So:

• la pelle scamosciata = feminine singular noun + feminine singular adjective

In this sentence, pelle scamosciata refers to suede leather or suede.

Literally, scamosciato/scamosciata is an adjective meaning something like suede-like or with a suede finish. In everyday use, though, pelle scamosciata is a normal way to talk about suede leather.

So even if English might simply say suede, Italian often keeps the noun + adjective structure:

• pelle scamosciata

In Italian, many adjectives normally come after the noun they describe.

So:

• la pelle scamosciata literally follows the pattern
• the leather suede

But in natural English, we say:

• the suede leather or simply the suede

Italian can sometimes place adjectives before the noun, but after the noun is very common, especially for descriptive adjectives like this one.

Yes. The sentence uses a very standard Italian word order:

subject + verb + object

• Il calzolaio = subject
• spazzola = verb
• la pelle scamosciata = object

This is the same basic order English often uses:

• The cobbler brushes the suede leather.

Italian word order can be more flexible than English, but this sentence is completely neutral and natural.

A helpful approximate pronunciation is:

kal-tso-LAH-yo

A few points:

• cal sounds like kal
• z here sounds like ts
• aio is pronounced something like AH-yo

So the stress falls on -lai-:

• cal-zo-LA-io

Approximate pronunciations:

• spazzola = spat-tSOH-la
• scamosciata = ska-mo-SHA-ta

Useful notes:

For spazzola:

• spa as in spa
• zz is pronounced like tts or dz/dz, depending on accent, but tts is a useful learner approximation
• stress is on zzo

For scamosciata:

• sca before a sounds like ska
• sci before a gives a sh sound
• stress is on -scia-

Yes. Pelle can mean both skin and leather, depending on context.

For example:

• la pelle delle mani = the skin of the hands
• una giacca di pelle = a leather jacket

In this sentence, because of the context and the adjective scamosciata, it clearly means leather, specifically suede leather.

Italian uses articles more often than English does. With concrete nouns like these, Italian normally includes the definite article:

• il calzolaio
• la pelle scamosciata

Even when English might sometimes shorten or simplify the phrase, Italian usually keeps the article.

So the full structure sounds natural in Italian, even if English translation choices may vary.