La donna dice che gennaio è il mese più lungo dell’inverno, ma l’uomo pensa che febbraio passi in fretta.

In Italian, the names of months and seasons are normally written with lowercase letters unless they begin a sentence.

So:

• gennaio
• febbraio
• inverno

This is different from English, where January, February, and Winter are often capitalized.

In this sentence, la donna and l’uomo refer to specific people, so Italian uses the definite article:

• la donna = the woman
• l’uomo = the man

With months, Italian usually does not use an article when simply naming the month:

• gennaio
• febbraio

So:

• gennaio è... is normal
• not usually il gennaio è... in this kind of sentence

You may see an article with months in special cases, for example:

• il gennaio del 2020 = January 2020
• i gennai della mia infanzia = the Januaries of my childhood

Because uomo begins with a vowel, il changes to l’ before it. This is called elision.

So:

• il ragazzo
• l’uomo

This happens with several singular articles before vowels:

• la amica → l’amica
• lo amico is not used; instead l’amico

dell’ is a combination of:

• di = of
• the definite article before a vowel

Here the noun is inverno, which begins with a vowel, so the form is:

• dell’inverno = of the winter

This is part of the Italian system of contracted prepositions. Compare:

• del libro = of the book
• dello studente = of the student
• dell’inverno = of the winter

È is the verb essere in the third person singular present:

• è = is

It has a grave accent to distinguish it from e, which means and.

So:

• è = is
• e = and

This is an important spelling difference in Italian.

Both dice and pensa introduce a subordinate clause, and Italian normally uses che to introduce that clause.

• La donna dice che...
• l’uomo pensa che...

In English, that is often omitted:

• The woman says January is...
• The man thinks February goes by quickly.

In Italian, omitting che here is generally not natural. It is usually required.

Because lungo agrees with mese, and mese is masculine singular.

• il mese → masculine singular
• so the adjective is lungo

That whole part means:

• il mese più lungo = the longest month

If the noun were feminine, the adjective would change:

• la stagione più lunga = the longest season

So the adjective agrees with the noun it describes, not with inverno or donna.

This is a relative superlative structure in Italian:

• il
  • noun + più
    • adjective + group

So:

• il mese più lungo dell’inverno

literally works like:

• the month most long of the winter

Natural English:

• the longest month of winter
• or the longest month in winter

A useful pattern is:

• il ragazzo più alto della classe = the tallest boy in the class
• la città più bella d’Italia = the most beautiful city in Italy

This is about the difference between the indicative and the subjunctive.

• After dire che, Italian often uses the indicative when reporting what someone says as a statement:

  • dice che gennaio è...

• After pensare che, Italian very often uses the subjunctive, because it introduces a personal opinion, belief, or judgment:

  • pensa che febbraio passi in fretta

Here:

• è = present indicative of essere
• passi = present subjunctive of passare

So passi reflects the idea that this is what the man thinks, not necessarily an objective fact.

In everyday Italian, you may also hear pensa che febbraio passa in fretta, especially in more informal speech, but passi is a very standard and grammatically important form to know.

In fretta means quickly, fast, or in a hurry.

In this sentence:

• febbraio passi in fretta = February goes by quickly

Italian often uses in fretta with verbs of time passing:

• Il tempo passa in fretta = Time passes quickly

You could also say:

• febbraio passa velocemente
• febbraio passa rapidamente

But in fretta is extremely common and very natural.

In Italian, just like in English, verbs meaning to pass or to go by are often used with time as the subject.

So:

• febbraio passa in fretta
• literally, February passes quickly
• naturally, February goes by quickly

This is a very common way to talk about time:

• Il tempo passa in fretta = Time goes by quickly
• L’estate passa troppo presto = Summer goes by too soon

A rough guide:

• gennaio sounds like jehn-NAH-yoh
• febbraio sounds like fehb-BRAH-yoh

A few pronunciation notes:

• In gennaio, the gn sound is like the ny sound in canyon.
• In febbraio, the bb is doubled, so the consonant is held a little longer.
• The stress falls on:
  • gen-NAI-o
  • feb-BRAI-o

Italian double consonants are important, so try to notice them when speaking.