La chiave apre la porta.

The key opens the door.

Breakdown of La chiave apre la porta.

• la porta: the door
• la chiave: the key
• aprire: to open

Questions & Answers about La chiave apre la porta.

Why does the sentence use "la" before "chiave"?

In Italian, chiave is a feminine noun, so it takes the feminine definite article la rather than il. Some words ending in -e can be masculine or feminine in Italian, and chiave happens to be feminine.

Why is the verb "apre" used here instead of other forms like "apro" or "aprire"?

The verb aprire (to open) is conjugated according to the subject. La chiave is a third-person singular subject, so we use apre. If the subject were io (I), we would say apro, and if it were noi (we), we'd say apriamo, and so on.

Why is the article "la" also repeated before "porta"?

Just like chiave, the word porta (door) is also a feminine singular noun. Therefore, it takes the feminine singular article la. Overall, la chiave apre la porta literally translates to the key opens the door, with both nouns using the feminine article la.

Is it common to repeat the article before each noun in Italian?

Yes, it is standard in Italian to use the definite article with each noun it modifies. Even if we have multiple nouns, we typically include the appropriate article for each one, whereas in English, you might sometimes leave out repeated articles depending on context.