Learn Hardcore Italian: L'umidità alta rende difficile dormire. - High humidity makes it difficult to sleep.

This apostrophe indicates the elision of the feminine singular article la before a word starting with a vowel. Instead of saying la umidità, Italian contracts it to l'umidità to make pronunciation smoother.

Why does the adjective alta follow the noun umidità?

In Italian, most descriptive adjectives are placed after the noun. So umidità alta literally means “humidity high,” which corresponds to English “high humidity.” Placing the adjective before the noun (e.g. alta umidità) is possible but gives a slightly different emphasis or stylistic nuance.

Can I say alta umidità instead of umidità alta?

Yes. Alta umidità is grammatically correct. Putting adjectives before the noun can add emphasis or a poetic feel, but both orders are understood and used.

Why is dormire in the infinitive form here?

The verb rendere (to make) takes an infinitive to express what is being made possible, easy, difficult, etc. So you say rende difficile dormire = “makes sleeping difficult,” using the infinitive dormire to denote the action.

Why don’t we use an article before dormire or difficile?

In the Italian construction [subject] + rendere + adjective + infinitive, you don’t insert an article before the adjective or the infinitive. They directly follow the verb.

Why doesn’t difficile change form to agree in gender or number?

Here difficile describes the action dormire, not a noun with gender and number. Adjectives modifying verbs (actions) remain in their invariant masculine-singular form.

What is the subject of the sentence, and how can I identify it?

The subject is L'umidità alta (“the high humidity”). It comes before the verb rende, which is third-person singular to agree with the singular subject.

How do you pronounce umidità, and which syllable is stressed?

Umidità is pronounced [u.miˈdi.ta]. The accent mark indicates stress on the final syllable, so you emphasize -tà.

Could I use fare instead of rendere in this sentence?

You can’t directly replace rendere with fare in L'umidità alta fa difficile dormire—that sounds ungrammatical. With fare, you’d need a different structure: L'umidità alta fa sì che sia difficile dormire, using a subjunctive clause.

Is it possible to use a nominal form and say rende il dormire difficile?

Yes. You can turn dormire into the noun il dormire: L'umidità alta rende il dormire difficile. This is more formal and focuses on “sleeping” as a concept rather than the action.