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Un aereo è in ritardo.

Un aereo è in ritardo.
A plane is late.
FromLesson 31inHardcore Italian

Breakdown of Un aereo è in ritardo.

essere
to be
in ritardo
late
l’aereo
the plane

Questions & Answers about Un aereo è in ritardo.

Why do we use un before aereo instead of uno?
In Italian the masculine singular indefinite article is un before vowels and most consonants. Uno is used only before s + consonant, z, gn, ps, x, y and similar clusters (e.g. uno studente, uno zaino). Since aereo starts with a vowel and doesn’t begin with those special clusters, we use un aereo.
Why is there no apostrophe in un aereo even though aereo starts with a vowel?
Unlike the feminine article una, which contracts to un’ before a vowel (e.g. un’amica), the masculine article un never takes an apostrophe, whether the next word starts with a vowel or a consonant.
Why is there an accent in è, and how is it different from e without an accent?
È (with a grave accent) is the third-person singular of essere (“he/she/it is”). E without an accent means “and.” The accent mark in è distinguishes it in writing and also indicates that the vowel is stressed.
What does in ritardo literally mean, and why do we use it to say “is late”?
Literally in ritardo means “in delay.” Italian doesn’t have an adjective ritardo; instead it uses the noun ritardo (“delay”) with the preposition in to form an idiomatic phrase. Essere in ritardo means “to be delayed” or “to be late.”
Why do we say essere in ritardo instead of using the verb ritardare, and can we say Un aereo ritarda?
The verb ritardare is transitive (“to delay something”). You’d say La nebbia ha ritardato il treno (“The fog delayed the train”). To express that something itself is late you use essere in ritardo. While in some regions you might hear il treno ritarda, for flights it’s more natural to say il volo è in ritardo or l’aereo è in ritardo.
Why can’t we say Un aereo è ritardato?
Ritardato is the past participle of ritardare, and using it as an adjective here sounds odd and can carry negative or insensitive connotations (it can mean “mentally delayed”). Italian uses the phrase essere in ritardo instead.
Does in ritardo change form for gender or number when talking about multiple planes?
No. In ritardo is a fixed prepositional phrase and never agrees. For example: I treni sono in ritardo, Le consegne sono in ritardo—you always say in ritardo, regardless of gender or number.
Can we drop the subject Un aereo and just say È in ritardo?
Yes. Italian is a pro-drop language, so if the context is clear you can simply say È in ritardo (“It’s late”). The listener infers the subject (the plane, the train, etc.) from context.
When would you use il volo instead of l’aereo?
L’aereo refers to the physical airplane. Il volo (“the flight”) refers to the scheduled service. If you’re talking about schedules or delays it’s more common to say Il volo è in ritardo rather than L’aereo è in ritardo, although both are understood.
In English we say “the plane is being delayed.” Could we use a continuous tense like sta essendo in ritardo in Italian?
No. Italian doesn’t form continuous tenses with stative verbs like essere in this way. You simply use the present: È in ritardo. The periphrastic progressive (stare + gerund) exists for actions (sto mangiando) but not for describing states of being late.
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