Oggi il cielo è nuvoloso.

to be

Breakdown of Oggi il cielo è nuvoloso.

• oggi: today
• il cielo: the sky
• nuvoloso: cloudy

Questions & Answers about Oggi il cielo è nuvoloso.

Why is there a definite article il before cielo? Can I say Oggi cielo è nuvoloso?

In Italian you almost always use a definite article with singular, countable nouns—even in general statements. il cielo (“the sky”) is required here.
– Saying Oggi cielo è nuvoloso sounds ungrammatical in everyday speech.
– In very terse weather bulletins you may hear just Nuvoloso or Oggi nuvoloso, but that’s a special, elliptical style.

Why does è have an accent? Could it be written without it?

The grave accent on è marks the third-person singular present of essere (“to be”), distinguishing it from the conjunction e (“and”).
– è = “he/she/it is”
– e = “and”
Omitting the accent would cause confusion with e, so it’s mandatory.

What part of speech is nuvoloso, and does it change form?

nuvoloso is an adjective derived from nuvola (“cloud”) + -oso (a suffix meaning “full of”). It agrees in gender and number with the noun it modifies:
– masculine singular: nuvoloso
– masculine plural: nuvolosi
– feminine singular: nuvolosa
– feminine plural: nuvolose

What’s the difference between nuvoloso and coperto when talking about the sky?