L'umidità alta rende difficile dormire.

High humidity makes it difficult to sleep.

Breakdown of L'umidità alta rende difficile dormire.

• dormire: to sleep
• difficile: difficult
• rendere: to make
• alto: high

Questions & Answers about L'umidità alta rende difficile dormire.

Why is there an apostrophe in L'umidità?

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 ?