Breakdown of L'auto consuma molta benzina in città.
in
in
la città
the city
l'auto
the car
molto
a lot of
la benzina
the gasoline
consumare
to consume
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Questions & Answers about L'auto consuma molta benzina in città.
Why is auto preceded by l’ instead of la?
Even though auto (short for automobile) is a feminine noun, it begins with a vowel. In Italian, when a feminine singular noun starts with a vowel, la drops its final vowel and adds an apostrophe, becoming l’auto.
What tense and person is consuma?
Consuma is the third person singular present indicative form of consumare, which means it consumes. The ending -a signals both present tense and a singular subject (here, l’auto).
Why is there no article before molta benzina?
In this sentence benzina is an uncountable noun referring to fuel in general. To express an undefined quantity, Italian uses a quantity adjective (molta) without an article. Including la would point to a specific gasoline rather than the idea of “a lot of gasoline.”
How does molta agree with benzina?
Molto is a quantity adjective that must match the gender and number of its noun. Since benzina is feminine singular, the form is molta. If the noun were masculine singular, it would be molto; masculine plural molti; feminine plural molte.
What’s the difference between molta and tanta in this context?
Both adjectives indicate a large quantity. Molta is neutral, whereas tanta often feels more emphatic, similar to using so much in English. In practice, molta benzina is most common, though tanta benzina also works.
Why do we say in città and not nel città or a città?
Certain place words like casa, città, ufficio, montagna are used with in + noun without an article when indicating location in a general sense. So in città means “in the city” as an environment. You don’t contract in + la here, nor use a città for that meaning.
When should I use la città instead of in città?
Use la città when referring to the city as a defined object or concept, for example Visito la città (I visit the city). Use in città to express being or moving within the city, for example vivo in città (I live in the city). In our sentence, in città tells where the car consumes fuel.
Why does città have an accent, and does it change in the plural?
The grave accent on à marks stress on the final syllable. It’s required in Italian spelling. Also, città is invariable: the same accented form is used for both singular and plural.
Why isn’t there a subject pronoun like it in the sentence?
Italian usually drops subject pronouns because the verb ending shows person and number. Here, consuma (3rd person singular) already indicates it (the car) as the subject, so adding a pronoun like esso or lei would sound redundant.
How would I make this sentence plural to talk about multiple cars?
Change l’auto to le auto (feminine plural) and consuma to consumano. You get:
Le auto consumano molta benzina in città.
Are there alternative verbs to consumare when talking about fuel usage?
A common choice is usare, so you could say l’auto usa molta benzina. Another figurative option is l’auto brucia molta benzina, literally presenting fuel as if the engine burns it, though not in a fire sense.