Il ritardo provoca confusione.

The delay causes confusion.

Breakdown of Il ritardo provoca confusione.

• il ritardo: the delay
• la confusione: the confusion
• provocare: to provoke; cause

Questions & Answers about Il ritardo provoca confusione.

Why is it il ritardo and not just ritardo?

In Italian, a singular noun used as the subject of a normal sentence usually needs an article. So il ritardo is the natural form.

Here, il is the masculine singular definite article, like the in English. Depending on context, il ritardo can mean either:

• the delay (a specific delay), or
• delay in a general sense

Italian often uses the article where English may not.

Is ritardo masculine? How can I tell?

Yes, ritardo is masculine. In this sentence, you can tell because it takes il, which is a masculine singular article.

Useful forms:

• singular: il ritardo
• plural: i ritardi

So if you change the subject to plural, the verb would also change:

• I ritardi provocano confusione.

What form is provoca?

Provoca is the third-person singular present tense of provocare.

That means it matches a singular subject:

• il ritardo provoca = the delay causes

A quick pattern:

• io provoco = I cause / provoke
• tu provochi = you cause / provoke
• lui/lei provoca = he/she/it causes / provokes
• noi provochiamo = we cause / provoke
• voi provocate = you all cause / provoke
• loro provocano = they cause / provoke