L’uomo pensa che febbraio passi in fretta.

The man thinks that February goes by quickly.

Breakdown of L’uomo pensa che febbraio passi in fretta.

• che: that
• in fretta: quickly
• pensare: to think
• l'uomo: the man

Questions & Answers about L’uomo pensa che febbraio passi in fretta.

Why is it L’uomo and not il uomo?

Because il shortens to l’ before a masculine singular noun that begins with a vowel.

• il uomo → l’uomo
• This is called elision.

You’ll see the same thing with:

• l’amico
• l’albero
• l’orso

So L’uomo simply means the man.

Why is febbraio not capitalized?

In Italian, the names of months are normally not capitalized, unlike in English.

So:

• gennaio
• febbraio
• marzo

This is standard Italian spelling. The same is true for days of the week:

• lunedì
• martedì
• mercoledì

Why is it che febbraio passi?

Here che means that.

The structure is:

• L’uomo pensa = The man thinks
• che febbraio passi in fretta = that February passes/goes by quickly

So che introduces a subordinate clause, just like English that does.

In everyday English, that is often omitted, but in Italian che is usually expressed:

• Penso che sia vero = I think (that) it is true