La bambina piange perché ha fame.

because

Breakdown of La bambina piange perché ha fame.

• piangere: to cry
• la bambina: the girl
• avere fame: to be hungry

Questions & Answers about La bambina piange perché ha fame.

Why is there a definite article la before bambina?

Italian almost always uses a definite article before singular, countable nouns when you’re talking about a specific person or thing.
• la is the feminine singular definite article (“the”).
• Without it, bambina piange would sound like a headline or very informal speech.
• If you wanted to say “a girl,” you’d use una bambina instead.

How do I know that bambina is feminine and not masculine?

Italian nouns have grammatical gender.
• Words ending in -a are typically feminine (e.g. casa, ragazza, bambina).
• Words ending in -o are typically masculine (e.g. ragazzo, bambino, libro).
• Always match your articles and adjectives to that gender (e.g. il bambino vs. la bambina).

Why is there no article before fame in ha fame?

Here fame (“hunger”) is the direct object of avere (“to have”) in a fixed expression.
• In avere fame, avere sete, avere caldo etc., you treat the feeling as an object and drop the article.
• Saying ha la fame would be unidiomatic (it literally sounds like “she has the hunger off and on,” which Italians don’t say).