Il tenore canta con il basso.

Il is the masculine singular definite article, meaning the.

• il tenore = the tenor
• il basso = the bass

Italian uses definite articles more regularly than English, so seeing the before nouns like this is very normal.

Canta is the third-person singular present tense of cantare, meaning to sing.

So it matches the singular subject il tenore:

• il tenore canta = the tenor sings

If the subject were plural, the verb would change:

• i tenori cantano = the tenors sing

Because con is a preposition meaning with. That means il basso is part of a prepositional phrase, not a direct object.

Structure:

• Il tenore = subject
• canta = verb
• con il basso = prepositional phrase

So grammatically, the sentence is closer to The tenor sings with the bass than to The tenor sings the bass.

Here, basso is a noun.

Why? Because it is preceded by the article il, so il basso means the bass.

As a word, basso can also be an adjective meaning low or short depending on context, for example:

• una voce bassa = a low voice
• un tavolo basso = a low table

But in con il basso, it is clearly being used as a noun.

Yes. Depending on context, il basso can refer to different musical ideas, such as:

• a bass singer
• a bass part
• sometimes a bass instrument/player, depending on the situation

In this sentence, the exact meaning comes from context. Grammatically, though, il basso is simply the bass.

Italian often drops subject pronouns when they are not needed. This is very common.

You do not need lui because the subject is already stated:

• Il tenore canta

And even without the noun, canta already suggests he/she sings from the verb form, depending on context.

Italian relies much more on verb endings than English does.

The normal order here is:

• Il tenore canta con il basso

That is the most neutral and straightforward order.

Italian word order can change for emphasis, style, or rhythm, for example:

• Con il basso canta il tenore

But that sounds more marked or literary. For a learner, the standard order is the best one to use first.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

eel teh-NO-reh KAN-tah kon eel BAHS-so

A few useful points:

• tenore is stressed on -no-
• canta is stressed on can-
• basso is stressed on bas-
• the ss in basso is pronounced as a real double consonant, longer than a single s

Yes, con il can contract to col.

So you may sometimes see:

• Il tenore canta col basso

However, in modern standard Italian, con il is usually the more neutral and common form in everyday language. Col is correct, but it can sound a bit more literary, regional, or stylistically marked depending on context.

Because tenore is a masculine noun in Italian, so it takes the masculine singular article il:

• il tenore

Likewise, basso here is also masculine:

• il basso

For an English speaker, it is helpful to remember that grammatical gender in Italian affects the article and other words that agree with the noun.