Learn Italian: Il fratello è buono e la sorella è felice. - The brother is good and the sister is happy.

The accent mark changes the meaning entirely! È with an accent means "is" (from the verb essere). E without an accent is the coordinating conjunction meaning "and". They are both used here: the brother is (è) good and (e) the sister is (è) happy.

Will the word for "and" always be e?

Usually, yes! However, if the word immediately following it starts with a vowel (especially another 'e'), you will often see it written as ed to make it easier to pronounce, similar to how we use "an" instead of "a" in English before a vowel. Here, the next word (la) starts with a consonant, so we just use e.

Would buono change if we were talking about the sister instead of the brother?

Yes! Because sorella (sister) is a feminine noun, the adjective would change its ending to match, becoming buona. Italian adjectives ending in -o change to -a for feminine singular nouns.

Why doesn't felice end in -a since it describes the sister?