Breakdown of Il turista entusiasta esplora la città.
la città
the city
il turista
the tourist
esplorare
to explore
entusiasta
enthusiastic
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Questions & Answers about Il turista entusiasta esplora la città.
Why is the masculine singular article il used before turista instead of lo or l’?
In Italian, il is the definite article used before most masculine singular nouns starting with a consonant (like t). Lo appears only before s + consonant, z, ps, pn, gn, x or y. L’ is the form before vowels.
Why does turista end in –a if it’s a masculine noun?
Some Italian nouns in –ista (like turista, artista, pianista) are invariant in form for gender. You say il turista for a man, la turista for a woman, but the noun form stays -a.
How would you say “an enthusiastic tourist” instead of “the”?
Use the indefinite article un before a consonant:
un turista entusiasta
Why is the adjective entusiasta the same for both masculine and feminine?
Adjectives ending in –ista agree in number but not in gender. In the singular they always end in -ista; in the plural they become -isti (masc.) or -iste (fem.).
Why does entusiasta come after turista? In English we’d say “enthusiastic tourist.”
Unlike English, Italian normally places descriptive adjectives after the noun. Putting entusiasta before turista is possible for emphasis or style, but the neutral order is il turista entusiasta.
How do you form the third-person singular present of esplorare?
For regular –are verbs drop -are and add -a:
esplorare → esplora.
What role does la città play in the sentence?
La città is the direct object of the verb esplora (“explores”); it answers “what does he explore?”
If you wanted to replace la città with a pronoun, how would you say it?
Use the feminine singular direct-object pronoun la placed before the verb:
Il turista entusiasta la esplora.
Why does città have an accent on the final “à”?
The grave accent marks the stress on the last syllable and signals that città is oxytonic. It also indicates that the plural remains le città.
How do you turn this statement into a yes/no question in Italian?
You keep the same word order and raise your intonation, for example:
Il turista entusiasta esplora la città?
Optionally add vero? at the end for “right?”:
…la città, vero?