Cerco l’origine del rumore in giardino.

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Breakdown of Cerco l’origine del rumore in giardino.

• di: of
• in: in
• il giardino: the garden

Questions & Answers about Cerco l’origine del rumore in giardino.

Why is Cerco used instead of Sto cercando?

In Italian the simple present tense often covers both the English simple present I look for and the present continuous I am looking for. So Cerco works for both meanings. If you want to emphasize that the action is in progress right now, you can say Sto cercando l’origine del rumore in giardino.

Why do we say l’origine instead of la origine?

Because Italian elides the definite article la before a word that begins with a vowel. The a in la is dropped and replaced by an apostrophe, giving l’ + origine = l’origine.

Why is there an article before rumore? Could we drop it?

Italian normally requires an article before singular countable nouns. You cannot say Cerco origine rumore. If you mean any noise, you could use the indefinite article (un rumore). Here the speaker refers to a specific noise, so they use the definite article (il rumore, contracted in del rumore).

Why is del used before rumore, and what does it tell me about rumore?