Learn Italian: I piatti non sono nuovi.

I piatti non sono nuovi.

The plates are not new.

Breakdown of I piatti non sono nuovi.

Questions & Answers about I piatti non sono nuovi.

Why do we use i instead of il for "the"?

I is the plural form of il. Since we are talking about multiple plates (piatti instead of a single piatto), the word for "the" changes to match. You use i for masculine plural nouns that start with most consonants.

How do we know piatti is plural?

In Italian, regular masculine nouns that end in -o in the singular change their ending to -i in the plural. So, one plate is il piatto, but multiple plates are i piatti.

Doesn't sono usually mean "I am"? Why does it mean "are" here?

Good catch! The verb essere (to be) uses the exact same word—sono—for both "I am" and "they are". You can tell it means "they are" here because we are talking about i piatti (the plates), which is a plural "they".

Why does the word for "new" end in -i (nuovi)?

In Italian, adjectives (describing words) have to match the noun they describe in both gender and number. Because piatti is masculine and plural, the adjective nuovo (new) also changes its ending to -i to become nuovi.