La penna è sul tavolo.

The pen is on the table.

Breakdown of La penna è sul tavolo.

• la penna: the pen
• essere: to be
• su: on
• il tavolo: the table

Questions & Answers about La penna è sul tavolo.

Why does the sentence use la penna instead of una penna?

Italian uses la (the definite article) when the speaker or listener already knows which pen is being referred to. Una penna (an indefinite article) would mean a pen, suggesting any pen in a general sense. In this sentence, we talk about a specific pen that we assume both speaker and listener recognize.

How do you pronounce sul and what does it mean?

Sul is pronounced somewhat like sool in English. It is a contraction of su (on) + il (the), and it means on the. So sul tavolo translates literally as on the table.

Why is è used instead of another form of to be?

È is the third-person singular present tense of the verb essere (to be). In Italian, it’s used with he/she/it or il/la nouns. Since you’re talking about la penna (it), you say è.

Why is penna feminine?

In Italian, many nouns ending in -a are feminine. Penna simply belongs to this grammatical gender. Memorizing the gender of nouns is part of learning Italian, and as a general rule, words ending in -a are usually (though not always) feminine.