Learn Italian: Il padre è inglese o italiano? - Is the father English or Italian?

Il padre è inglese o italiano?

Is the father English or Italian?

Breakdown of Il padre è inglese o italiano?

Questions & Answers about Il padre è inglese o italiano?

Why doesn't the sentence start with è (is) like it does in English?

Unlike English, Italian doesn't swap the subject (il padre) and the verb (è) to ask a question. The word order stays exactly the same as if you were stating a fact.

If the word order is exactly the same as a statement, how do I actually ask this out loud?

You use your tone of voice! To turn a statement into a question in Italian, you just make your voice go up in pitch at the very end of the sentence.

Padre is a masculine word. Why does italiano end in -o while inglese ends in -e?

Adjectives usually end in -o for masculine words and -a for feminine words, which is why we use italiano here. However, some adjectives, like inglese, naturally end in -e. These special adjectives use the exact same -e ending for both masculine and feminine words.

Why aren't the words inglese and italiano capitalized?

In Italian, words for nationalities and languages are written with lowercase letters. You only capitalize them if they happen to be the very first word of a sentence or if they refer to the country itself.