Learn Hardcore Italian: Il padrone del negozio saluta i clienti con grande gentilezza. - The owner of the shop greets the customers with great kindness.

It literally translates as “the owner of the store.” Here, padrone means owner or master, and del is a contraction of di (“of”) and il (“the”), while negozio means store or shop.

How is the contraction del formed, and why is it used in this sentence?

Del comes from combining the preposition di (“of”) and the definite article il (“the”). It is used to indicate possession or a relationship between nouns, so del negozio means “of the store.”

Which part of the sentence functions as the subject, and what does it tell us?

The subject is Il padrone del negozio. This tells us who is performing the action—in this case, the store owner is greeting the customers.

How is the verb saluta conjugated, and what does it indicate about the subject?

Saluta is the third person singular form of the verb salutare in the present tense. It indicates that he (the store owner) is performing the action of greeting.

Why is i clienti in the plural form, and what does it convey?

I clienti is plural because it refers to more than one customer. Cliente is the singular form, and adding -i makes it plural, expressing that the store owner greets multiple customers.

What role does the phrase con grande gentilezza play in the sentence?

The phrase con grande gentilezza is an adverbial phrase describing the manner of the action. It tells us that the greeting is done “with great kindness”—indicating not just the action, but also how it is performed.

Are there any notable differences in word order between this Italian sentence and its English equivalent?

The word order in Italian is quite similar to English in this case. The structure is subject + verb + object + adverbial phrase: • Italian: Il padrone del negozio saluta i clienti con grande gentilezza. • English: The store owner greets the customers with great kindness. One difference to note is the position of adjectives relative to their nouns; however, in this sentence, grande gentilezza aligns well with the English adjective-noun order.

Can this sentence serve as a model for constructing similar sentences in Italian? If so, how?

Yes, this sentence is an excellent model because it incorporates several common Italian structures: • Using definite articles with nouns (il, i). • Forming contractions with prepositions and articles (del). • Conjugating regular verbs in the present tense (saluta). • Building adverbial phrases to describe manner (con grande gentilezza). Learning and practicing these elements helps in forming similar sentences to express actions and their nuances in Italian.