L'uomo vuole sposare la donna.

Because the full article would be lo, but before a vowel it usually drops its final vowel: lo uomo → l'uomo.

So:

• lo = masculine singular definite article used before certain sounds
• uomo = a noun beginning with a vowel
• l' = the shortened form of lo before a vowel

The apostrophe shows this elision. It is written, but it is not pronounced as a separate sound.

Italian definite articles change depending on the noun that follows.

For masculine singular nouns:

• il is used before many consonants: il libro
• lo is used before z, s + consonant, ps, gn, x, y, and sometimes other special cases: lo studente, lo zio
• l' is used before vowels: l'uomo, l'amico

So uomo takes l', not il.

Vuole is the third person singular present tense of the verb volere = to want.

Here is the present tense:

• io voglio = I want
• tu vuoi = you want
• lui/lei vuole = he/she wants
• noi vogliamo = we want
• voi volete = you all want
• loro vogliono = they want

So l'uomo vuole means the man wants.

Because in Italian, after a conjugated modal-like verb such as volere (to want), the next verb usually stays in the infinitive.

So:

• vuole sposare = wants to marry
• not vuole sposa

This works like English:

• He wants to marry
• The man wants to marry the woman

Other common examples:

• voglio mangiare = I want to eat
• può andare = he/she can go
• deve studiare = he/she must study

Because Italian does not always use a separate word corresponding to English to before an infinitive.

In this structure:

• volere + infinitive

you simply say:

• vuole sposare

not:

• vuole a sposare
• vuole di sposare

English says wants to marry, but Italian just says vuole sposare.

In this sentence, sposare means to marry someone, so it takes a direct object:

• sposare la donna = to marry the woman

Italian often distinguishes between:

• sposare qualcuno = to marry someone
• sposarsi = to get married

So:

• L'uomo vuole sposare la donna = The man wants to marry the woman.
• L'uomo vuole sposarsi = The man wants to get married.

You may also hear:

• sposarsi con qualcuno = to marry someone / to get married to someone

But in this sentence, the form is clearly the transitive sposare.

Because donna here is a specific noun, and Italian normally uses the definite article much like English does in this sentence.

So:

• la donna = the woman

The sentence is talking about:

• the man
• the woman

not just any man or any woman.

Also:

• la is the feminine singular definite article
• donna is a feminine singular noun

There are two clues:

1. The article is la, which is feminine singular.
2. The noun donna ends in -a, which is very often feminine in Italian.

So:

• la donna = feminine singular
• plural: le donne = the women

This pattern is common:

• la casa
• la ragazza
• la porta

But remember that noun endings are helpful clues, not perfect rules.

Yes, but Italian word order is somewhat flexible compared with English.

The normal, neutral order here is:

• L'uomo = subject
• vuole = verb
• sposare = infinitive
• la donna = object

So the sentence follows a very standard pattern: Subject + verb + infinitive + object

You might sometimes see different word orders for emphasis, but this version is the most straightforward and natural for a learner.

Uomo is pronounced approximately WOH-mo.

A few points:

• The initial uo combination often sounds like wo
• So uomo does not sound like English oo-oh-mo
• It is more like waw-mo or wo-mo, depending on accent

So l'uomo is roughly:

• LOO-oh-mo? No
• better: LOH-mo with the w-like glide in uomo

A simple learner-friendly approximation is:

• L'uo-mo → LWOH-mo

No. The apostrophe is not pronounced as its own sound.

It only shows that a vowel has been dropped:

• lo uomo → l'uomo

In speech, you move directly from l into uomo:

• l'uomo

So the apostrophe is a spelling marker, not a spoken sound.

Yes, but the structure would change.

The original sentence:

• L'uomo vuole sposare la donna means:
• The man wants to marry the woman.

A common alternative is:

• L'uomo vuole sposarsi con la donna literally:
• The man wants to get married with/to the woman.

Both are possible, but they are not built the same way:

• sposare + direct object
• sposarsi + con + person

For a beginner, it is useful to remember that the sentence you were given uses the simpler transitive pattern:

• sposare qualcuno

In most contexts, it matches English very closely.

However, as in English, the sentence only tells us about desire/intention, not whether the marriage will actually happen.

So it means:

• he wants to marry her
• he intends or wishes to marry her

It does not mean:

• he is marrying her now
• he married her
• he is definitely going to marry her

For those meanings, Italian would use different forms.

The plural would be:

• Gli uomini vogliono sposare le donne.

Changes:

• l'uomo → gli uomini = the men
• vuole → vogliono = want
• la donna → le donne = the women

This is useful because it shows how both articles and verb forms change in Italian.