Breakdown of Nella mansarda di mia zia c’è un piccolo telescopio.
essere
to be
di
of
in
in
piccolo
small
mia
my
ci
there
la zia
the aunt
la mansarda
the attic
il telescopio
the telescope
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Questions & Answers about Nella mansarda di mia zia c’è un piccolo telescopio.
What does mansarda mean in this sentence?
Mansarda refers to an attic or garret—the habitable space directly under the roof. Unlike soffitta, which often implies storage, mansarda suggests a finished room you can use as a bedroom, office, or studio.
Why is it nella instead of in la mansarda?
Italian contracts certain prepositions with definite articles. Here:
- in + la = nella
You never say in la; you always merge them into nel/nella/nei/nelle, depending on gender and number.
Why do we say di mia zia without any article before mia zia?
When indicating possession with family members in Italian:
- Singular, unmodified nouns like mia zia, mio padre, sua sorella drop the article.
- The di already marks the relationship (“of my aunt”), so you don’t add la.
What does c’è stand for, and why is there an apostrophe?
C’è is a contraction of ci è meaning “there is.”
- ci = “there” (locative pronoun)
- è = “is” (3rd-person singular of essere)
The apostrophe shows the missing i in ci.
Why does è carry an accent in c’è?
The accent on è distinguishes the verb “is” from the conjunction e (“and”). Without the accent, you'd confuse è with e.
Why is the phrase un piccolo telescopio used instead of uno piccolo telescopio or una piccolo telescopio?
- Telescopio is masculine.
- It begins with a consonant, so the correct indefinite article is un (not uno, which you’d use before s+consonant or z, nor una, which is feminine).
Hence un piccolo telescopio.
Could piccolo come after telescopio, as in un telescopio piccolo?
Yes, you could say un telescopio piccolo, but placing size adjectives before the noun is more common in Italian when you simply describe an object’s dimension. Some Italian speakers might perceive the post-noun position as slightly more emphatic or stylistic.
Can you rearrange the sentence, for example starting with C’è?
Absolutely. Italian word order is flexible. You could say:
“C’è un piccolo telescopio nella mansarda di mia zia.”
Both versions mean exactly the same; the difference is just stylistic or based on what you want to emphasize (the existence of the telescope vs. its location).