L'arco narrativo include una sottotrama.

to include

Breakdown of L'arco narrativo include una sottotrama.

• l'arco narrativo: the narrative arc
• la sottotrama: the subplot

Questions & Answers about L'arco narrativo include una sottotrama.

Why is it L'arco and not il arco?

Because Italian usually shortens the definite article before a vowel.

• il
  • arco becomes l'arco
• This is called elision

So L'arco means the arc. The apostrophe shows that a vowel was dropped from the article.

What does arco narrativo mean grammatically?

It is a noun phrase made of:

• arco = noun
• narrativo = adjective

Italian usually places adjectives after the noun, so arco narrativo literally follows the pattern arc narrative, but in natural English it is narrative arc.

Why is it narrativo and not narrativa?

Because narrativo has to agree with arco, which is a masculine singular noun.

So:

• arco = masculine singular
• narrativo = masculine singular adjective form

If the noun were feminine, the adjective would normally change too.

Why is the verb include?