Breakdown of Questo è l'anno nuovo.
Questions & Answers about Questo è l'anno nuovo.
Why do we use l' here instead of il?
The word anno is a masculine noun, but it starts with a vowel. To make pronunciation smoother, Italian takes the special article lo and drops the o, replacing it with an apostrophe to create l'anno. Does l' only apply to masculine words like anno?
No, it applies to both! For feminine words starting with a vowel, you drop the a from the article la and use l' as well. So any singular noun starting with a vowel uses l'. Why does the word nuovo come at the end of the sentence?
In English, the adjective comes before the noun (the new year). In Italian, most descriptive adjectives are placed immediately after the noun they describe, which is why it is ordered as l'anno nuovo (literally: the year new). Why does the word è have an accent mark?
The accent mark tells you that è is the verb meaning "is". Without the accent mark, the word e translates to "and". I have seen the phrase quest'anno before. Why is Questo not shortened here?
You use the shortened form quest' when it comes directly attached to a noun starting with a vowel, as in quest'anno (this year). In this sentence, Questo is a standalone pronoun followed by the verb è, so it keeps its full form. Learn Questo è l'anno nuovo and more in Italian
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