La tranquillità del bosco è speciale.

to be

Breakdown of La tranquillità del bosco è speciale.

• del: of
• speciale: special
• la tranquillità: the tranquility
• il bosco: the wood

Questions & Answers about La tranquillità del bosco è speciale.

Why is la used before tranquillità in this sentence?

In Italian, abstract nouns like tranquillità (tranquility/peace) often take the definite article la to indicate that we are referring to the concept in a general or universal sense, rather than talking about a specific instance or quantity of it.

How do I pronounce tranquillità correctly?

It has five syllables: tran-quil-li-tà. The stress is on the last syllable (tà). Try to keep the 'qu' sound like kw, and remember that the i after the qu is subtle but still pronounced.

What does del mean here, and why isn’t di directly used?

Del is a contraction of di + il, literally meaning of the. It’s needed because bosco (woods/forest) is a masculine noun that takes the article il in its singular form. So instead of writing di il bosco, we contract it to del bosco.

Is bosco masculine or feminine, and how do I use it in the plural form?

Bosco is masculine. The standard plural is boschi (pronounced with a hard c as in key). For example, you can say i boschi to mean the woods/forests.

Why is è used instead of è un/una here?

Italian uses the verb essere (to be) in a straightforward way to link the subject (La tranquillità del bosco) with an adjective (speciale) without an article between them. Saying "è speciale" simply states a quality of that subject. If you were to say "è una cosa speciale," that would add an extra emphasis or categorize it as a thing that is special.