La supplente detta tre domande, e noi le scriviamo sul quaderno.

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Breakdown of La supplente detta tre domande, e noi le scriviamo sul quaderno.

• e: and
• noi: we
• la domanda: the question

Questions & Answers about La supplente detta tre domande, e noi le scriviamo sul quaderno.

Why is it la supplente? What does supplente mean?

Supplente means substitute teacher or supply teacher. In this sentence, la shows that the teacher is female, so la supplente means the female substitute teacher.

A few useful points:

• supplente can be masculine or feminine depending on the article:
  • il supplente = the male substitute teacher
  • la supplente = the female substitute teacher
• The noun itself does not change here; the article tells you the gender.

Why is the verb detta and not dice?

Because dettare and dire are not the same thing.

• dire = to say, to tell
• dettare = to dictate

So La supplente detta tre domande means that the teacher is dictating three questions for the students to write down, not just saying them in a general way.

Here, detta is the third-person singular present of dettare:

• io detto
• tu detti
• lui/lei detta

Why is it tre domande without an article?