Il libro del mese include la sinossi e la postfazione.

The book of the month includes the synopsis and the afterword.

Breakdown of Il libro del mese include la sinossi e la postfazione.

• e: and
• includere: to include
• il libro del mese: the book of the month
• la sinossi: the synopsis

Questions & Answers about Il libro del mese include la sinossi e la postfazione.

Why is it il libro and not just libro?

Because Italian uses definite articles very often, more often than English does. Il libro means the book.

In this sentence, il libro del mese is a complete noun phrase meaning something like the book of the month or the monthly featured book. Leaving out il would usually sound incomplete here.

Why is it del mese and not di il mese?

Del is a contraction of di + il.

• di = of
• il = the
• di + il = del

So:

• il libro del mese = the book of the month

Italian regularly combines many prepositions with definite articles this way.

Why do we use il in del mese?

Because mese is a masculine singular noun, and the normal masculine singular definite article before most consonants is il.

So:

• il mese = the month
• di + il mese → del mese

If the noun had a different form, the article would change. For example:

• lo studente
• dello studente

But with mese, it is il mese, so the contraction is del mese.