La radice del piccolo albero è bagnata dopo la pioggia.

Because radice is a feminine singular noun in Italian.

• la = the, for feminine singular nouns
• radice = root

So:

• la radice = the root

This is something you often just have to learn with the noun, since grammatical gender does not always match natural gender or English patterns.

Del is a contraction of:

• di = of
• il = the

So:

• del = of the

In the sentence:

• la radice del piccolo albero = the root of the small tree

This is a very common Italian contraction:

• di + il = del
• di + lo = dello
• di + la = della
• di + i = dei
• di + gli = degli
• di + le = delle

In Italian, adjectives can come before or after the noun, but some are very commonly placed before it, especially short, common descriptive adjectives like:

• piccolo = small
• grande = big/great
• bello = beautiful

So:

• il piccolo albero = the small tree

This is natural and standard.

You may also sometimes see adjective position affect tone or emphasis, but in this sentence piccolo albero is just the normal, idiomatic order.

Because bagnata is an adjective that must agree with radice, and radice is feminine singular.

Agreement rules:

• masculine singular: bagnato
• feminine singular: bagnata
• masculine plural: bagnati
• feminine plural: bagnate

So:

• La radice è bagnata = The root is wet

Even though albero is masculine, the adjective bagnata describes radice, not albero.

È is the third-person singular form of essere (to be).

• è = is

The sentence structure is:

• La radice ... è bagnata
• The root ... is wet

Italian uses essere just like English uses to be with an adjective.

Also, the accent matters:

• è = is
• e = and

So you must write è with the accent here.

Italian uses the definite article more often than English does.

Here, dopo la pioggia is the normal way to say:

• after the rain
• or more generally, after rainfall / after it rains

So even when English might be flexible, Italian usually prefers the article with nouns like this.

Examples:

• dopo la cena = after dinner
• dopo la lezione = after the lesson/class
• dopo la pioggia = after the rain

Normally, no. Dopo pioggia sounds incomplete or unnatural in standard Italian.

The natural phrase is:

• dopo la pioggia

That is the expression learners should use.

Yes. Italian word order is fairly flexible, especially for time phrases like dopo la pioggia.

You could also say:

• Dopo la pioggia, la radice del piccolo albero è bagnata.

This means the same thing: After the rain, the root of the small tree is wet.

The original sentence is perfectly natural, though. Putting dopo la pioggia at the end is very common.

Grammatically, yes: radice is singular, so it means root.

In real usage, singular nouns in Italian can sometimes refer to a part or feature in a general way, especially in descriptive sentences. Here it suggests the root of the tree, or the root area/base.

If you specifically wanted roots in the plural, you would say:

• Le radici del piccolo albero sono bagnate.

So the sentence as written is singular, but it can still sound natural depending on context.

Albero is simply a masculine noun, so it takes masculine forms:

• il piccolo albero
• del piccolo albero

There are some patterns in Italian noun gender, but they are not perfect rules. For example:

• many nouns ending in -o are masculine
• many nouns ending in -a are feminine

So albero being masculine fits a common pattern.

Usually, in this sentence, bagnata most naturally means wet.

• è bagnata = is wet

Depending on context, bagnato/bagnata can sometimes suggest soaked or damp, but wet is the safest and most direct meaning here.

If you wanted a stronger idea like soaked, Italian might use different wording depending on context.

It describes a temporary state: the root is wet after the rain.

Italian uses essere + adjective very naturally for this:

• è bagnata = is wet

Because of dopo la pioggia, the listener understands that this is a current result of the rain, not a permanent characteristic of the root.

You would need to change the article, verb, and adjective to match the plural noun.

Singular:

• La radice del piccolo albero è bagnata.

Plural:

• Le radici del piccolo albero sono bagnate.

Changes:

• la → le
• radice → radici
• è → sono
• bagnata → bagnate

This is a good example of how important agreement is in Italian.