Questions & Answers about Il cane è bello e grande.
How do I know to use the masculine article il for cane when the word ends in an -e?
In Italian, nouns ending in -e can be either masculine or feminine. Cane (dog) is a masculine word. Because it starts with a regular consonant, it uses the standard masculine singular article il. You can also tell the dog is masculine here because the describing word bello takes the masculine -o ending.
Why do we use il here instead of the other masculine article, lo?
Why does bello end in -o but grande ends in -e, if they both describe the same masculine dog?
Italian adjectives fall into two main families. Bello is in the first family, which ends in -o for masculine and -a for feminine. Grande belongs to the second family of adjectives that end in -e for all singular nouns, whether they are masculine or feminine.
What is the difference between è and e?
The accent mark changes the meaning entirely! The word è (with the accent) is a verb meaning 'is', while e (without the accent) is the joining word meaning 'and'.
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