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Una grande gru solleva i materiali nel cantiere.

Una grande gru solleva i materiali nel cantiere.
A big crane lifts the materials at the construction site.
FromLesson 40inHardcore Italian

Questions & Answers about Una grande gru solleva i materiali nel cantiere.

Why is una used instead of un before grande gru?
Because gru is a feminine noun in Italian (la gru). The feminine indefinite article before a consonant is una. You’d use un only with masculine nouns.
If gru is feminine, why does grande end in -e instead of -a?
Adjectives ending in -e have the same form for both masculine and feminine singular. They only change to -i in the plural. So grande works for un grande ragazzo (m.) and una grande gru (f.).
Why is grande placed before the noun instead of after it?
While many Italian adjectives follow the noun, grande often appears before to emphasize size. Saying una grande gru (“a big crane”) feels more natural than una gru grande in most contexts.
Why doesn’t grande elide to gran before gru?
The shortened form gran is used only before masculine singular nouns starting with a consonant (e.g., un gran libro). Because gru is feminine, you keep the full form grande.
Why does the verb end in -a in solleva?
Solleva is the 3rd person singular present indicative of sollevare (“to lift”). The subject una grande gru is singular (“it”), so the verb takes the -a ending.
Could I use sollevano instead of solleva here?
Only if the subject were plural (e.g., le gru sollevano i materiali). Since we have one crane, we use the singular solleva.
Why is i materiali used instead of le materiali?
Materiali is a masculine plural noun, so it takes the masculine plural article i, not the feminine le.
In English we’d say “lifts materials at the site.” Why is the article i included in i materiali?
Italian often uses definite articles where English omits them. Here i materiali refers to the specific materials on that site, so the article is normal.
Why do we say nel cantiere instead of just in cantiere?
Nel is the contraction of in + il, because cantiere is masculine singular and needs the definite article. You can say in cantiere colloquially (“on site”), but nel cantiere emphasizes “in the construction site.”
What is the plural form of una grande gru?
The adjective changes to plural (grandi), but gru remains unchanged (it’s invariant). So you get due grandi gru or, with the definite article, le grandi gru.
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