La relazione tratta la questione.

Because both relazione and questione are feminine singular nouns, and la is the feminine singular definite article meaning the.

• la relazione = the report / the presentation / the paper
• la questione = the issue / the matter / the question

So the first la goes with the subject, and the second la goes with the direct object.

Not usually in this sentence. Relazione can mean different things depending on context, including:

• report
• presentation
• account
• sometimes relationship

In La relazione tratta la questione, the most natural meaning is something like report, paper, or presentation, because it is the thing that deals with or discusses the issue.

So this is a good example of a false friend: relazione does not always mean relation/relationship in English.

Tratta comes from the verb trattare.

Here it is:

• present tense
• third person singular
• from a regular -are verb

Conjugation in the present:

• io tratto
• tu tratti
• lui/lei tratta
• noi trattiamo
• voi trattate
• loro trattano

It is tratta because the subject is la relazione, which is singular.

Not exactly. Trattare can sometimes resemble English to treat, but in this sentence it means something more like:

• to deal with
• to discuss
• to cover
• to address

So La relazione tratta la questione means that the report/presentation covers or discusses the issue.

This is another place where a direct word-for-word English match can be misleading.

Because in this sentence trattare is being used as a transitive verb, so it takes a direct object:

• trattare qualcosa = to deal with / discuss something

That is why you get:

• tratta la questione

and not necessarily a preposition.

You may also see trattare di qualcosa in more formal or literary usage, but for a learner, the key point is:

• trattare + direct object is very common
• la questione is the object of the verb

So the structure here is very straightforward: subject + verb + direct object

Not always. Questione often means:

• issue
• matter
• question in the sense of a topic under discussion

It does not usually mean a question someone asks out loud in the same direct way as English question. For that, domanda is often more natural.

So:

• domanda = a question you ask
• questione = an issue, matter, or topic

In this sentence, questione is better understood as issue or matter.

Yes. This is a very standard pattern:

• La relazione = subject
• tratta = verb
• la questione = direct object

So the sentence follows the common subject–verb–object order.

Italian can change word order for emphasis or style, but this version is the neutral, ordinary one.

The present tense in Italian often works much like the English simple present.

So tratta can express something like:

• what the report deals with
• what the presentation covers
• what the paper is about

This is very natural when describing the content of a text, talk, or document.

No, that would sound unnatural and incomplete in normal Italian.

Italian uses articles more often than English, especially with common nouns. Here the sentence is talking about:

• the report
• the issue

So la relazione and la questione are the normal forms.

Leaving out the articles would generally not work in a standard sentence like this.

A rough pronunciation is:

lah reh-lah-TSYO-neh TRAHT-tah lah kwes-TYO-neh

A few useful details:

• zione sounds like TSYO-neh
• qu sounds like kw
• the double tt in tratta is pronounced more strongly than a single t

So be careful not to flatten tratta too much; the doubled consonant matters in Italian pronunciation.