Questions & Answers about La situazione non è grave.
Why does the sentence start with la?
La is the feminine singular definite article, meaning the.
It is used because situazione is a feminine singular noun. So:
- la situazione = the situation
Unlike English, Italian uses articles very regularly, so you usually need la here.
Why is situazione feminine?
In Italian, every noun has a grammatical gender, usually masculine or feminine. Situazione is simply a feminine noun, and you have to learn its gender as part of the word.
A useful clue is that many nouns ending in -zione are feminine:
- la situazione
- la nazione
- la lezione
Because situazione is feminine, words connected to it may also need to match it.
Why is it non è and not è non?