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Le finestre sono chiuse, ma le porte sono aperte.

Le finestre sono chiuse, ma le porte sono aperte.
The windows are closed, but the doors are open.
From Lesson 7:Regular plurals and definite articles (-i, -e, i, le)·Italian

Breakdown of Le finestre sono chiuse, ma le porte sono aperte.

essere
to be
la porta
the door
ma
but
aperto
open
chiuso
closed
la finestra
the window

Questions & Answers about Le finestre sono chiuse, ma le porte sono aperte.

Why do we use le instead of i for the plural word for 'the' here?
Finestra (window) and porta (door) are feminine nouns that end in -a in their singular form. To make them plural, the -a changes to -e (finestre, porte). For all plural feminine nouns, the definite article is le.
Why do the adjectives chiuse and aperte also end in -e?
In Italian, adjectives must match the gender and number of the noun they describe. The dictionary forms of these words are chiuso (closed) and aperto (open). Because they are describing feminine plural nouns, their endings change to -e to match.
I learned before that sono means 'I am'. Why does it mean 'are' in this sentence?
Sono is a verb that does double duty! It is both the 'I' form (I am) and the 'they' form (they are) of the verb essere (to be). Because the subjects in this sentence are plural (le finestre and le porte), it takes the 'they are' meaning.
How should I pronounce chiuse?
Remember that the letter combination ch in Italian always makes a hard 'k' sound, never a soft sound like in the English word 'cheese'. Therefore, chiuse is pronounced with a sharp 'k' sound at the beginning (KYOO-zeh).

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