Disegno un quadrato sulla lavagna.

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Breakdown of Disegno un quadrato sulla lavagna.

• su: on
• disegnare: to draw
• la lavagna: the blackboard

Questions & Answers about Disegno un quadrato sulla lavagna.

What part of speech is disegno in this sentence and what does it mean?

Disegno is the first-person-singular present indicative form of the verb disegnare, meaning I draw. Although disegno can also be a noun ("a drawing"), here the presence of a direct object (un quadrato) and the verb ending -o tell you it’s a verb.

Why isn’t the subject pronoun io included before disegno?

Italian often drops subject pronouns because the verb ending already indicates who performs the action. The -o ending of disegno clearly marks the subject as io ("I"). You could say Io disegno un quadrato sulla lavagna for emphasis, but it’s not required.

What is un quadrato?

Un is the masculine singular indefinite article (“a”), and quadrato is a masculine noun meaning “square.” Together, un quadrato means a square.

Why do we use un and not uno before quadrato?

In Italian, uno is used before masculine nouns starting with s + consonant (e.g., uno studente), z (e.g., uno zaino), gn, ps, x or y. Since quadrato begins with q (a consonant that doesn’t trigger uno), you use un instead.