Breakdown of Quest'albero è molto bello.
Questions & Answers about Quest'albero è molto bello.
Why is there an apostrophe in Quest'albero?
The word for "this" here is originally questo, because albero (tree) is a masculine noun. However, when questo comes before a word that starts with a vowel, Italians drop the final -o and replace it with an apostrophe to make pronunciation smoother. So, questo albero becomes quest'albero. If the noun was feminine and started with a vowel, would it still be Quest'?
Yes! The feminine word for "this" is questa. Just like questo, when questa comes right before a vowel, it drops its final letter. So whether the singular noun is masculine or feminine, if it starts with a vowel, you use quest' (like quest'isola for "this island"). Why does bello end in -o?
Bello is an adjective meaning "beautiful." In Italian, adjectives must match the gender and number of the noun they describe. Since albero is a masculine singular noun, bello takes the masculine singular ending -o. Could molto change its ending to match the masculine noun?
No. In this sentence, molto means "very" and acts as an adverb modifying the adjective bello. Adverbs never change their endings. Molto only changes its ending (to molta, molti, or molte) when it means "a lot of" or "many" and is attached directly to a noun. Learn Quest'albero è molto bello and more in Italian
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