La zuppa è un poco salata.

The soup is a little salty.

Breakdown of La zuppa è un poco salata.

• essere: to be
• la zuppa: the soup
• un poco: a little
• salato: salty

Questions & Answers about La zuppa è un poco salata.

Why does è have a grave accent instead of just e?

Because è (with an accent) is the third‐person singular of the verb essere (“to be”). Without the accent, e simply means “and.”

Why do we say La zuppa instead of just Zuppa?

In Italian you normally use the definite article before a noun when making a general statement about it. So La zuppa literally means “the soup,” even though in English we’d just say “soup” in a sentence like “Soup is a little salty.”

Why is salata ending in “-a”?

Because adjectives in Italian agree in gender and number with the noun they describe. Zuppa is feminine singular, so the adjective takes the feminine singular ending: salata.

What exactly does un poco mean here?

Un poco literally means “a little.” In La zuppa è un poco salata, it functions like an adverbial phrase modifying salata, so the whole means “The soup is a little salty.”

Is it correct to write un poco, or should I use un po’?