Il medico è simpatico e l'ospedale è nuovo.

Breakdown of Il medico è simpatico e l'ospedale è nuovo.

essere
to be
e
and
nuovo
new
il medico
the doctor
simpatico
nice
l'ospedale
the hospital (m)

Questions & Answers about Il medico è simpatico e l'ospedale è nuovo.

Why is the article l' used for l'ospedale instead of il?
Ospedale is a masculine noun that starts with a vowel ('o'). Normally, special masculine nouns would use the article lo, but when the word begins with a vowel, the o in lo is dropped and replaced by an apostrophe to make it flow better: l'ospedale.
Why does medico just use il when this lesson is about lo and l'?
Because medico starts with a standard consonant ('m'). The special articles lo and l' are only used for masculine nouns that start with a vowel, an 's' followed by another consonant (like studente), a 'z' (like zaino), or a few other rare sounds. For most consonants, you just stick with il.
Does simpatico mean the doctor is "sympathetic"?
No, simpatico is a "false friend"—a word that looks like an English word but means something else! In Italian, it simply means someone is "nice", "friendly", or "likable".
Ospedale ends in 'e', so how do we know to use the masculine adjective nuovo?
Nouns ending in -e in Italian can be either masculine or feminine, and you just have to memorize which they are as you learn them. Ospedale happens to be masculine. Because of this, the adjective describing it must take the standard masculine singular ending, which is -o (nuovo).

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