Il cane vecchio dorme sul letto.

the dog

Breakdown of Il cane vecchio dorme sul letto.

• dormire: to sleep
• su: on
• vecchio: old
• il letto: the bed

Questions & Answers about Il cane vecchio dorme sul letto.

Why is the article il used instead of lo with cane?

In Italian, lo is reserved for masculine nouns that begin with z, s + consonant, gn, ps, pn, x, or y. Since cane begins with a simple consonant c, the correct article is il.

Why does the adjective vecchio come after the noun cane?

In Italian, adjectives frequently appear after the noun they modify. While certain adjectives can precede the noun for stylistic or emphatic reasons, placing vecchio after cane is the more neutral choice. You could also say Il vecchio cane, but Il cane vecchio emphasizes that the dog in question is old without giving a special connotation to oldness.

Is sul a single word, or is it a contraction?

Sul is a contraction of su + il, meaning on the. Here, sul letto translates literally to on the bed.

Why do we use dorme instead of sta dormendo?

In Italian, the simple present tense (dorme) can express both sleeps and is sleeping in English. If you want to emphasize the ongoing action, you can say sta dormendo, but dorme is perfectly acceptable and very common in everyday speech.

Why isn’t there an object pronoun in this sentence?

The verb dormire (to sleep) is intransitive, meaning it doesn’t take a direct object. The sentence focuses on the subject (Il cane vecchio) and where the action is happening (sul letto).

Why is there an h in vecchio?

The h in vecchio follows the standard Italian spelling rule to maintain the k sound before i. Without the h, the letter c before i would be pronounced as ch (like in “ciao”). So, vecchio ensures the correct k sound in the syllable ch-io.