Il pelapatate è sul tagliere, accanto all’apriscatole.

Because pelapatate is a singular masculine noun, so it takes the definite article il.

In Italian, you usually use an article with a concrete noun like this:

• il pelapatate
• il tagliere

English often omits the in places where Italian would not.

Yes, pelapatate is one word.

It is a compound noun made from:

• pela- = from pelare (to peel)
• patate = potatoes

So it is literally something like potato-peeler.

Italian has many tool names like this:

• pelapatate = peeler
• apriscatole = can opener
• cavatappi = corkscrew

These compounds are very common in everyday Italian.

The accent marks it as the verb è = is.

This helps distinguish it from e, which means and.

So:

• è = is
• e = and

This is a very important spelling difference in Italian.

Because sul is the contracted form of su + il.

So:

• su + il = sul

This is called an articulated preposition. Italian usually combines certain prepositions with definite articles:

• su + il = sul
• a + il = al
• di + il = del
• in + il = nel

So sul tagliere literally comes from su il tagliere, but the combined form is the normal one.

That’s exactly right: nouns ending in -e can be masculine or feminine, so you have to learn their gender individually.

Here, tagliere is masculine:

• il tagliere

Its plural is:

• i taglieri

So the ending -e does not tell you the gender by itself.

Tagliere is pronounced roughly tal-YEH-reh.

The tricky part is gli. In this word, it makes a sound similar to the lli in English million, though the Italian sound is cleaner and more distinct.

So:

• ta-gliè-re
• stress on -gliè-

A rough English-friendly approximation is tal-YEH-reh.

Yes. Accanto normally goes with a.

So the pattern is:

• accanto a = next to

Because apriscatole has the article l’, you get:

• a + l’ = all’

So:

• accanto all’apriscatole = next to the can opener

A similar example:

• accanto al coltello
• accanto alla tazza

Because apriscatole is masculine singular, but it begins with a vowel sound, so il becomes l’.

So:

• il + apriscatole → l’apriscatole

This happens with many singular nouns beginning with a vowel:

• l’amico
• l’albero
• l’apriscatole

The full form of the article is still masculine singular; it just changes shape before a vowel.

Yes, often you could.

Both can mean on the cutting board, but there is a small nuance:

• sul tagliere = the normal, neutral way to say on the cutting board
• sopra il tagliere = can sound a bit more like on top of / above the cutting board

In many everyday situations, both are natural. In this sentence, sul tagliere is the most straightforward choice.

Both are usually unchanged in the plural.

So:

• il pelapatate → i pelapatate
• l’apriscatole → gli apriscatole

But:

• il tagliere → i taglieri

So a plural version of the sentence could be:

I pelapatate sono sui taglieri, accanto agli apriscatole.

This is common with compound tool names like apriscatole and pelapatate.