Learn Italian: Il ragazzo non è felice oggi.

Il ragazzo non è felice oggi.

The boy is not happy today.

Breakdown of Il ragazzo non è felice oggi.

Questions & Answers about Il ragazzo non è felice oggi.

Why is non placed before è? In English we say 'is not'.

In Italian, the negative word non always goes directly before the verb. So instead of saying 'is not' like in English, you literally say 'not is' (non è).

Since ragazzo is masculine and ends in -o, shouldn't the adjective be felico?

Not all Italian adjectives end in -o or -a. The word felice belongs to a group of adjectives that end in -e in the singular. These adjectives use the exact same ending for both masculine and feminine words, so it is il ragazzo felice (the happy boy) and la ragazza felice (the happy girl).

Why does è have an accent mark in this sentence?

The accent mark shows that è means 'is' (from the verb essere). Without the accent mark, e means 'and'. The accent helps you tell them apart in writing and tells you to pronounce the vowel a bit more openly.

Could I use lo instead of il for ragazzo?