Breakdown of Il bambino sporca la tovaglia con il succo.
il bambino
the child
con
with
la tovaglia
the tablecloth
il succo
the juice
sporcare
to dirty
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Italian grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Il bambino sporca la tovaglia con il succo.
Why is sporca used here? How do you conjugate the verb sporcare?
It's the third person singular present indicative of the regular first-conjugation verb sporcare (to dirty, to stain). The full present tense is:
Io sporco, tu sporchi, lui/lei sporca, noi sporchiamo, voi sporcate, loro sporcano.
Why do we say il bambino instead of un bambino?
The definite article il refers to a specific child that both speaker and listener know about. Un bambino would mean “some child,” unspecified. So Il bambino sporca la tovaglia means “The (particular) child dirties the tablecloth.”
Why is la tovaglia used with la? Could we use una tovaglia?
Tovaglia is a feminine noun, so the definite article is la in the singular, meaning “the tablecloth.” If you want to say “a tablecloth,” use the indefinite article una:
Il bambino sporca una tovaglia.
Why isn't there a preposition before la tovaglia (like sulla tovaglia)?
Sporcare is a transitive verb, so it takes a direct object (the tablecloth) without any preposition. Using sulla tovaglia would mean “on the tablecloth” as a location, but here the tablecloth itself is being dirtied, so no su- preposition is needed.
Why do we say con il succo? Could we say con succo, col succo, or con del succo?
Con means “with.” When it’s followed by il, standard Italian keeps both words: con il succo. You might see col succo (a contraction of con il), but it’s less common in everyday speech. Dropping the article (con succo) sounds very informal. Con del succo uses the partitive (some juice), which changes the nuance to “with some of the juice.”
Could we use macchiare instead of sporcare?
Yes. Macchiare specifically means “to stain” or “to spot,” often referring to marks on fabric. Il bambino macchia la tovaglia con il succo is correct and emphasizes the stain. Sporcare is more general (“make dirty”).
How do I pronounce tovaglia?
In Italian, gl before i represents the palatal lateral [ʎ], similar to the “lli” in English million. So tovaglia is pronounced to-VAH-lyah (toh-VAH-ʎah).
How would the sentence look in the past tense (“has dirtied”)?
Use the passato prossimo with avere:
Il bambino ha sporcato la tovaglia con il succo.