Un musicista suona la tromba davanti al teatro.
A musician plays the trumpet in front of the theater.
Breakdown of Un musicista suona la tromba davanti al teatro.
suonare
to play
davanti a
in front of
il teatro
the theater
il musicista
the musician
la tromba
the trumpet
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Questions & Answers about Un musicista suona la tromba davanti al teatro.
Why is the indefinite article un used before musicista, rather than uno?
In Italian, un is the masculine indefinite article used before nouns that begin with a vowel or most consonants. Uno is only used before masculine nouns starting with z, s+consonant, ps, pn, gn, x, or y. Since musicista begins with m, you use un.
How can musicista end in -a but still be masculine?
Musicista is one of those Italian nouns that has the same form for both genders. The gender is shown by the article and context.
• Un musicista = a male musician
• Una musicista = a female musician
The noun itself remains musicista.
Why is there a definite article la before tromba? Can I say suona tromba?
In Italian, when you talk about playing musical instruments, you normally use the definite article: suonare + il/la + strumento. So you say suona la tromba. Omitting the article (i.e. suona tromba) would be ungrammatical here.
What tense and person is suona? How would I say They play the trumpet?
Suona is the third-person singular of the present indicative tense of suonare (to play).
To say They play the trumpet, you conjugate for third-person plural:
Suonano la tromba.
Why is it davanti al teatro instead of davanti a il teatro?
Davanti (in front) requires the preposition a. When a meets the masculine singular article il, they contract to al. Thus davanti a il teatro becomes davanti al teatro.
Could I say davanti a teatro without the article, like in andare a teatro?
No. Andare a teatro is an idiomatic phrase meaning “to go to the theater” and omits the article. But davanti needs a definite article to specify the actual building: davanti al teatro.
Can I use di fronte al teatro instead of davanti al teatro?
Yes. Di fronte a and davanti a both mean “in front of.” You can say di fronte al teatro with essentially the same meaning, though davanti a is a bit more common in casual speech.
Could I replace un musicista with il musicista?
Yes. Un musicista introduces any musician (“a musician”), while il musicista refers to a specific musician already known or previously mentioned (“the musician”).