Il soprano intona la prima strofa.

In Italian, soprano is traditionally a masculine noun in form, so it commonly takes il in the singular: il soprano.

When it refers to a woman, you may still see il soprano, especially in formal or traditional usage. However, in modern everyday Italian, some speakers also use la soprano to match the person’s gender. So both can appear, but il soprano is very common and standard.

Intona is the third-person singular form of intonare.

In this sentence, it means something like:

• begins
• strikes up
• starts singing
• intonates

With music, intonare often means to start a song, melody, or verse, especially in a formal or musical context. It is not just any kind of singing; it suggests beginning the musical line.

Because the sentence needs a conjugated verb, not the infinitive.

The subject is il soprano = the soprano, which is he/she in English. So the verb must match he/she:

• io intono = I begin/sing
• tu intoni = you begin/sing
• lui/lei intona = he/she begins/sings

So Il soprano intona... means The soprano begins/sings...

La is the definite article meaning the.

• la strofa = the verse
• la prima strofa = the first verse

Italian usually uses articles more often than English, so where English might sometimes just say first verse, Italian often says the first verse.

Also, strofa is a feminine singular noun, so it takes la.

Because prima is an ordinal number here, meaning first, and ordinal numbers normally come before the noun in Italian:

• la prima strofa = the first verse
• il primo giorno = the first day
• la seconda volta = the second time

So this word order is the normal one.

Usually, yes. Strofa often corresponds to verse or stanza, depending on context.

• In a song, strofa is usually verse
• In poetry, it can often be stanza

So in this sentence, if the context is singing, la prima strofa is most naturally the first verse.

This is the most neutral Italian word order:

subject + verb + object

• Il soprano = subject
• intona = verb
• la prima strofa = object

Italian can change word order for emphasis, but this version is the plain, standard way to say it.

For example, La prima strofa intona il soprano would sound wrong because it makes the first verse look like the subject.

Because intonare here is acting on something: the soprano begins or sings what?
Answer: la prima strofa

That makes la prima strofa the direct object.

So the structure is:

• Il soprano = who does the action
• intona = action
• la prima strofa = what is being sung/begun

Yes. Soprano can refer to:

• a soprano singer
• the soprano voice or vocal range

In this sentence, because il soprano is the subject of the verb intona, it clearly refers to the person performing the action.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

eel so-PRA-no in-TO-na la PREE-ma STRO-fa

A few helpful points:

• il sounds roughly like eel
• soprano has stress on pra
• intona has stress on to
• prima has stress on pri
• strofa has stress on stro

The r in Italian is usually more tapped or rolled than in English.