Learn Italian: I biglietti non sono pronti. - The tickets are not ready.

I biglietti non sono pronti.

The tickets are not ready.

Breakdown of I biglietti non sono pronti.

Questions & Answers about I biglietti non sono pronti.

How do I know if biglietti is plural?

In Italian, most masculine words that end in -o in the singular change to -i in the plural. Since a single ticket is il biglietto, the plural tickets becomes i biglietti.

Why is the word for 'the' just the letter i?

i is the plural masculine word for 'the'. You use it for plural masculine nouns that start with most consonants. It replaces the singular word il. So, il biglietto becomes i biglietti.

Wait, I thought sono meant 'I am'. Why is it used here for tickets?

The verb essere (to be) uses sono for both 'I am' (io sono) and 'they are' (loro sono). Since we are talking about the tickets (they), we use sono to mean 'are'.

Why does pronti end with an -i instead of an -o?

In Italian, adjectives have to match the noun they describe in both gender and number. Since biglietti is a masculine plural noun, the adjective pronto (ready) changes its ending to match, becoming pronti.

Does non always go before the verb?