Word
Il contadino porta il fieno nella stalla prima che piova.
Meaning
The farmer brings the hay into the stable before it rains.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Il contadino porta il fieno nella stalla prima che piova.
portare
to bring
piovere
to rain
prima che
before
la stalla
the stable
Questions & Answers about Il contadino porta il fieno nella stalla prima che piova.
Why does the sentence start with il contadino instead of just contadino?
In Italian, it is very common to use the definite article with nouns where English might not.
So il contadino means the farmer.
If you said just contadino, it would sound incomplete in this sentence. Italian usually wants an article before a singular countable noun like this unless there is a specific reason to omit it.
What does porta mean here?
Porta comes from portare, which usually means to carry, to bring, or to take, depending on context.
Here, porta il fieno nella stalla means something like:
- carries the hay into the barn
- takes the hay into the barn
- brings the hay into the barn
English chooses among carry / take / bring more strictly depending on perspective, but Italian portare often covers all of these.
Also, porta is the third person singular form of the present tense:
- io porto = I carry
- tu porti = you carry
- lui/lei porta = he/she carries
Why is it il fieno and not just fieno?