Il bambino solleva il coperchio.

The child lifts the lid.

Breakdown of Il bambino solleva il coperchio.

• il bambino: the child
• il coperchio: the lid
• sollevare: to lift

Questions & Answers about Il bambino solleva il coperchio.

Why is il used before bambino, and when would I choose un instead?

In Italian, singular nouns usually need an article. Il is the definite article meaning the for masculine nouns starting with a simple consonant. To say a child instead of the child you use the indefinite article un, as in un bambino.

Why is il coperchio used here instead of lo coperchio or la coperchio?

The noun coperchio is masculine and begins with a plain consonant c, so it takes the masculine singular definite article il. Lo appears before masculine nouns that start with z, s+consonant, gn, ps or pn. La is for feminine nouns.

What part of speech is solleva, and how is the verb sollevare conjugated in the present tense?

Solleva is the third person singular form (lui/lei) of the verb sollevare in the present indicative. Its full conjugation is

• io sollevo
• tu sollevi
• lui/lei solleva
• noi solleviamo
• voi sollevate
• loro sollevano

Why is the simple present solleva used instead of a continuous form like sta sollevando?