Breakdown of Questo mese è difficile, ma l'anno è bello.
Questions & Answers about Questo mese è difficile, ma l'anno è bello.
Why is it l'anno instead of il anno?
Because anno starts with a vowel, we use l' instead of the regular masculine article il. This makes it much easier to say, blending into a single sound rather than having two vowels bump into each other. Why does difficile end in -e instead of -o to match the masculine word mese?
Not all Italian adjectives have -o or -a endings. A whole group of adjectives naturally ends in -e in the singular form, like difficile or intelligente. These adjectives use the exact same -e ending for both masculine and feminine words. Since mese ends in -e, how do we know if it is masculine or feminine?
Words ending in -e can be either masculine or feminine, so you have to memorize their gender. However, the sentence gives us a big clue: it uses questo (the masculine form of "this"). If mese were feminine, the sentence would say questa mese. Could I write quest'mese instead of questo mese?
No, you can only drop the -o from questo (making it quest') when the very next word starts with a vowel, like in quest'anno (this year). Because mese starts with a consonant, questo keeps its full spelling. Learn Questo mese è difficile, ma l'anno è bello and more in Italian
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free