Marco dorme sul prato.

to sleep

Breakdown of Marco dorme sul prato.

• su: on
• il prato: the lawn
• Marco: Marco

Questions & Answers about Marco dorme sul prato.

What tense and person is dorme, and how is it conjugated?

dorme is the third-person singular present indicative of dormire (to sleep). The full present indicative conjugation is:

• Io dormo
• Tu dormi
• Lui/Lei dorme
• Noi dormiamo
• Voi dormite
• Loro dormono

This form indicates that Marco sleeps (either habitually or right now).

Could I say Marco sta dormendo sul prato to express the same idea?

Yes. Marco sta dormendo sul prato uses the present continuous (stare + gerund dormendo) to emphasize that the action is in progress at this very moment. In Italian, however, the simple present (dorme) is also perfectly natural for ongoing actions.

What is sul, and why is it used here?

sul is a contraction of the preposition su (on) + the definite article il (the). So sul prato literally means “on the meadow.” Italian commonly combines certain prepositions with definite articles:

• su + il → sul
• su + lo → sullo
• su + la → sulla
• …and so on.