Studiano la lingua giapponese.

They study the Japanese language.

Breakdown of Studiano la lingua giapponese.

• studiare: to study
• la lingua: the language
• giapponese: Japanese

Questions & Answers about Studiano la lingua giapponese.

What does studiano mean, and what verb does it come from?

Studiano comes from the infinitive studiare = to study.

In this sentence, studiano is the present tense, third-person plural form, so it means they study.

A quick present-tense pattern for studiare is:

• io studio = I study
• tu studi = you study
• lui/lei studia = he/she studies
• noi studiamo = we study
• voi studiate = you all study
• loro studiano = they study

Why isn’t there a word for they in the sentence?

Italian often leaves out subject pronouns when they are clear from the verb ending.

So:

• Studiano la lingua giapponese.
• Loro studiano la lingua giapponese.

both mean the same thing.

The version without loro is usually more natural, because studiano already tells you the subject is they.

Why is there la before lingua giapponese?