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Vedo il pesce nel lago.

Vedo il pesce nel lago.
I see the fish in the lake.
FromLesson 29inHardcore Italian

Breakdown of Vedo il pesce nel lago.

io
I
vedere
to see
il lago
the lake
nel
in
il pesce
the fish

Questions & Answers about Vedo il pesce nel lago.

What tense and person is vedo?
Vedo is the first-person singular present indicative form of the verb vedere (“to see”). In English, it simply means “I see.”
Why don’t we need the subject pronoun io (“I”) before vedo?
Italian is a pro-drop language, which means the verb ending already encodes the subject. Since vedo ends in -o, we know the subject is “I.” Adding io is optional and used mainly for emphasis or contrast.
Why is there a definite article il before pesce? Could we say vedo pesce nel lago instead?

In Italian, singular countable nouns usually require an article, even when English omits it.

  • il pesce = the fish (we’re talking about a specific fish in the lake).
    Saying vedo pesce nel lago sounds like a headline or very stylized speech. In normal prose or conversation, you need il.
How is nel formed, and why not just in il lago?

Nel is a contraction of in + il:
 in + il → nel
Italian regularly combines certain prepositions with definite articles to form single words:
 di + il → del
 a + il → al
 su + il → sul

Could we use a different preposition than in for “in the lake”?

To express being or seeing something inside a body of water, in is the correct choice. Other prepositions convey different spatial relationships:

  • su (+ article → sul) = on top of (“on the lake” would be wrong here)
  • a (+ article → al) = to/at (“to the lake” would be vado al lago)
Why is pesce masculine? Are there any plural or feminine forms?

Most Italian nouns ending in -e can be either masculine or feminine, but pesce is masculine: il pesce.

  • Plural: i pesci (notice the -e changes to -i)
    There is no common feminine singular pesca in this meaning (“pesca” means “peach” or “fishing” as a noun).
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