Learn Italian: Questo è uno specchio.

Questo è uno specchio.

This is a mirror.

Breakdown of Questo è uno specchio.

a / an (masculine special)

Questions & Answers about Questo è uno specchio.

Why does this sentence use uno instead of the normal un?

In Italian, masculine nouns usually take the article un. However, because specchio starts with an s followed by a consonant (the p), it takes the special article uno. This rule exists to make the words flow better and be easier to pronounce together!

How do you pronounce the cch part of specchio?

In Italian, placing an h after a c keeps the hard k sound. Because of the cch, it is pronounced like a hard k (as in the English word cat), rather than a soft ch sound. The whole word sounds roughly like SPEK-kee-oh.

Why is there an accent mark on the word è?

The accent mark is crucial because it distinguishes è (which means is) from e (which means and). Without the accent, the sentence would roughly mean This and a mirror, which wouldn't make sense!

Why does the sentence start with Questo instead of Questa?

Questo means this, and its ending has to match the gender of the noun it refers to. Since specchio is a masculine word, we use the masculine form Questo. If you were pointing at a feminine noun instead, you would use Questa.