I bambini corrono nel parco giochi.

to run

Breakdown of I bambini corrono nel parco giochi.

• il bambino: the child
• nel: in
• il parco giochi: the playground

Questions & Answers about I bambini corrono nel parco giochi.

Why is I used instead of gli before bambini?

In Italian, the plural masculine definite article for nouns beginning with a consonant (except s-clusters, z, gn, etc.) is i. Since bambini (“children”) is plural, masculine, and starts with b, we use i, not gli.

Why is there no subject pronoun in I bambini corrono?

Italian verbs carry endings that identify the subject, so the pronoun loro (“they”) is usually omitted. The form corrono already means “they run.”

What tense and person is corrono, and how is it formed?

Corrono is the present indicative, third-person plural of correre (“to run”). The stem is corr- and the ending -ono marks “they.”

What is nel, and why not just in il?

Nel is a contraction of in (“in”) + il (“the,” masculine singular). Italians commonly fuse the preposition and the article: in + il = nel.

Why not nei before parco giochi?