Il pesce può morire senza acqua.

In Italian, nouns often use an article where English might not.

• il pesce = the fish
• But in a general statement, il + singular noun can also mean something like fish in general or the fish as a species/type

So Il pesce può morire senza acqua can be understood as a general truth, not only as one specific fish in front of you.

Italian does this a lot:

• Il cane è fedele = The dog is faithful / Dogs are faithful
• Il vino è buono = Wine is good

Here, pesce is singular.

• il pesce = the fish
• i pesci = the fish / fishes (plural)

Even though it is singular in form, it can still express a general idea, like English sometimes does with the fish or a fish in a general statement.

So:

• Il pesce può morire senza acqua = a general statement about fish
• I pesci possono morire senza acqua = general statement in the plural

Both are possible, but the sentence you have uses the singular.

Può means can.

It is the third person singular form of potere = to be able to / can.

So:

• io posso = I can
• tu puoi = you can
• lui/lei può = he/she/it can

In this sentence, può agrees with il pesce, which is singular:

• Il pesce può... = The fish can...

The accent in può is part of the correct spelling.

It shows the stressed vowel and helps distinguish the word in writing. In modern Italian, this form of potere is written:

• può = he/she/it can

You should simply learn it as the standard written form. The accent is important, so don’t write puo in correct Italian.

Because after a modal verb like potere (can), Italian usually uses the infinitive of the main verb.

So:

• può morire = can die
• può mangiare = can eat
• può bere = can drink

This works much like English:

• can die
• can eat
• can drink

You do not conjugate the second verb here:

• correct: Il pesce può morire
• not correct: Il pesce può muore

After senza (without), Italian often uses a noun without an article, especially when speaking generally.

So:

• senza acqua = without water
• senza zucchero = without sugar
• senza soldi = without money

If you say senza l'acqua, it sounds more like without the water, referring to some specific water already known in the context.

Here the meaning is general, so senza acqua is the natural choice.

Yes, senza usually means without.

Examples:

• senza acqua = without water
• senza aiuto = without help
• senza mangiare = without eating

It is a preposition, so it introduces what is lacking or absent.

In your sentence:

• Il pesce può morire senza acqua
• literally: The fish can die without water

Yes. Italian word order is fairly flexible, although the original sentence is completely natural.

You could also say:

• Senza acqua, il pesce può morire.

This puts more emphasis on without water.

The basic sentence:

• Il pesce può morire senza acqua.

is neutral and straightforward:

1. subject: Il pesce
2. verb phrase: può morire
3. complement: senza acqua

A simple pronunciation guide is:

eel PEH-sheh pwoh moh-REE-reh SEN-tsa AHK-kwah

A few helpful points:

• pesce sounds roughly like PEH-sheh
• può sounds like pwo
• morire has stress on ri: mo-REE-re
• senza is SEN-tsa
• acqua is AHK-kwa

The double cc in acqua is pronounced as a stronger k sound.

Here, può is best understood as can in the sense of is able to / is liable to / it is possible for it to.

So the sentence means that a fish is able to die, or may end up dying, if there is no water.

In many contexts, potere can translate as:

• can
• may
• to be able to

But in this sentence, can is the most natural English match.

Yes, that is also grammatically correct, but the nuance is slightly different.

• Il pesce può morire senza acqua = a general truth about fish
• Un pesce può morire senza acqua = a fish can die without water, focusing on an individual fish as an example

Both can work, but il pesce is very common when Italian makes a general statement about a species or class of things.

Most likely it is talking about fish in general.

That is because Italian often uses:

• definite article + singular noun to express a whole category.

So il pesce here can mean:

• the fish in a generic sense
• essentially fish as a kind of animal

If you wanted to make it clearly about several fish, you could say:

• I pesci possono morire senza acqua.