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Lo specchio è grande.

Lo specchio è grande.
The mirror is big.
From Lesson 11:Special singular articles (lo, l')·Italian

Breakdown of Lo specchio è grande.

essere
to be
grande
big
lo specchio
the mirror

Questions & Answers about Lo specchio è grande.

Why does this sentence use lo instead of il for 'the'?
In Italian, singular masculine words usually use il for 'the'. However, because specchio starts with an 's' followed by another consonant (a 'p'), it takes the special article lo. This makes the words flow together better when speaking without getting tongue-tied.
Wait, is specchio masculine or feminine?
It is a masculine noun. Even though it doesn't use the standard il, lo is still a masculine article. The ending -o on specchio is also a great clue that it is masculine.
Why doesn't grande end in -o to match the masculine noun specchio?
Many adjectives change to -o or -a to match the noun's gender, but grande belongs to a group of adjectives that naturally end in -e. These adjectives use the exact same -e form for both masculine and feminine singular words.
Why does è have an accent mark?
The accent mark distinguishes è (which means 'is') from e (which means 'and'). The accent is crucial because it completely changes the meaning of the word!

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