L’ingegnere controlla il parabrezza della nuova auto.

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Breakdown of L’ingegnere controlla il parabrezza della nuova auto.

• controllare: to check
• nuovo: new
• l’auto: the car

Questions & Answers about L’ingegnere controlla il parabrezza della nuova auto.

Why is L’ingegnere written with an apostrophe instead of il ingegnere or lo ingegnere?

In Italian, when the definite article il or la comes before a noun starting with a vowel, the vowel of the article is dropped and replaced by an apostrophe. Here ingegnere begins with i, so il ingegnere becomes l’​ingegnere.

What does controlla mean, and why does it end in -a?

Controlla is the 3rd person singular present indicative of the verb controllare (to check, to inspect). The ending -a marks he/she/it (lui/lei) checks. Literally: L’ingegnere controlla… = “The engineer checks…”

Why is it il parabrezza and not lo parabrezza or la parabrezza?

Despite ending in -a, parabrezza is a masculine noun (many compound nouns are). It begins with a simple consonant p, so it takes the masculine singular article il. Lo is reserved for nouns beginning with s+consonant, z, ps, gn, etc., and la is the feminine form.

What is della in della nuova auto, and why not ?