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Questions & Answers about Il pranzo è finito.
Why is there a definite article before pranzo? In English we say “Lunch is over,” not “The lunch is over.”
In Italian you almost always use the definite article before a noun, even when you speak in general. So il pranzo corresponds to English “lunch.” Omitting il (Pranzo è finito) would sound awkward or incomplete.
Why is pranzo masculine? Do all words ending in -o have to be masculine?
Most Italian nouns ending in -o are masculine, and pranzo follows that rule. That’s why it takes il and why any adjectives or participles agree in the masculine form (e.g. finito rather than finita). There are exceptions, but they’re relatively few (for example la mano).
Why is it è finito instead of ha finito?
Finire can be transitive or intransitive:
- Transitive (“to finish something”) uses avere: Ho finito il libro (“I finished the book”).
- Intransitive (“to end”) uses essere: Il pranzo è finito (“The lunch is over”).
Here the lunch itself ends, so you use essere- past participle.
Does finito have to agree with pranzo?
Yes. With essere the past participle agrees in gender and number with the subject. Since pranzo is masculine singular, you get finito. If it were feminine singular (e.g. la lezione), it would be La lezione è finita; if masculine plural (i pasti), I pasti sono finiti.
What tense is è finito, and why isn’t there a simple past like in English (“Lunch ended”)?
This is the passato prossimo, formed with the present of essere plus the past participle. Italian doesn’t have a one-word simple past for most actions; instead, the passato prossimo expresses completed actions in the recent or general past, roughly equivalent to English “has ended” or “ended.”
Could you use the present tense (“finisce”) to say “Lunch is over”?
No. Using finisce in the present tense indicates a scheduled or habitual event—Il pranzo finisce alle 14:00 (“Lunch finishes at 2 PM”). To state that it has already ended right now, you need the passato prossimo: Il pranzo è finito.
Can you say Il pranzo è terminato instead of finito?
Yes. Terminare is a synonym of finire (“to end”), so Il pranzo è terminato is perfectly correct, though finito is more common in everyday speech.
What about the passive form Il pranzo è stato finito—is that okay?
Grammatically it’s the passive of the transitive use (“The lunch was finished by someone”), but Italians rarely use that here. They’d say either Il pranzo è finito (intransitive) or Hanno finito il pranzo (“They finished lunch”).
How do you pronounce pranzo?
The z in pranzo is pronounced /ts/, so it sounds like PRAN-tso, with the stress on the first syllable.