Breakdown of Il grembiule protegge la camicia dagli schizzi di sugo.
di
of
da
from
proteggere
to protect
la camicia
the shirt
il sugo
the sauce
il grembiule
the apron
lo schizzo
the splash
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Questions & Answers about Il grembiule protegge la camicia dagli schizzi di sugo.
What does grembiule mean and how do I pronounce it?
Grembiule means “apron.” You pronounce it /ˈɡrem.bju.le/, with the stress on the first syllable. It’s the protective garment you wear over your clothes.
Why is it il grembiule and not lo grembiule?
Italian uses il before most masculine singular nouns starting with a consonant (except s + consonant, z, gn, ps, pn, x, y, which take lo). Since grembiule starts with gr, you use il.
Why is proteggere spelled with double gg, and how is protegge conjugated here?
The verb is proteggere (“to protect”). In Italian, before e and i you often double g to maintain the hard /ɡ/ sound. So the present-tense forms are io proteggo, tu proteggi, lui/lei protegge. Here protegge is third-person singular (“he/she/it protects”).
What is dagli, and why is it used before schizzi?
Dagli is the contraction of da (“from” or “against”) + gli (the masculine plural definite article). Schizzi is masculine plural and begins with s + consonant, so its article is gli; combine da + gli → dagli, meaning “from the” or “against the.”
Why is schizzi in the plural, and could I use the singular?
A schizzo is one splash; schizzi means multiple splashes. Here you expect more than one droplet of sauce, so the plural is natural. You could say da uno schizzo di sugo (“from one splash of sauce”), but it sounds less typical than the plural.
Why is there di in di sugo, and why isn’t there an article before sugo?
Di indicates composition or content: “splashes of sauce.” Sugo here is generic (sauce in general), so it’s used without an article. If you meant a specific sauce you would say del sugo (di + il).
Why is camicia used with the definite article la?
In Italian, clothing and body parts normally take the definite article, even when English drops it. La camicia refers to the shirt you’re wearing (or a shirt in general) and that the apron protects.
Can I use other words instead of schizzi or sugo?
Yes. For “splashes” you can use spruzzi (sprays) or even macchie (stains) if you emphasise marks. Instead of sugo, you might say salsa, especially for tomato sauce. For example: dagli spruzzi di salsa or dalle macchie di salsa.