Il libro è nuovo.

Breakdown of Il libro è nuovo.

essere
to be
il libro
the book
nuovo
new

Questions & Answers about Il libro è nuovo.

Why do we use il here for "the"?
Il is the singular word for "the" used with masculine nouns that start with most consonants. Since libro (book) is masculine, singular, and starts with the consonant "l", il is the correct article to use.
Can I just say Libro è nuovo without il?
Usually not. While English sometimes drops "the", Italian relies heavily on its definite articles. When a noun like libro is the main subject of your sentence, you almost always need to include its article.
Why is there a backwards accent mark on è?
That accent mark is very important because it completely changes the meaning of the word. È with the accent means "is". If you write it without the accent as e, it means "and".
Why does nuovo end in -o?
In Italian, describing words (adjectives) must match the noun they describe. Because libro is a masculine and singular noun, the adjective nuovo (new) takes the matching masculine singular ending -o.

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