Learn Italian: Il piatto è caldo o freddo?

In Italian, adjectives must agree with the noun they describe. Because piatto is a masculine singular noun, the adjectives caldo (hot) and freddo (cold) take the masculine singular ending -o. If we were talking about a feminine noun like la zuppa (the soup), they would change to calda and fredda.

Wait, does caldo mean cold?

No, it is a false friend! Caldo actually means hot. The Italian word for cold is freddo. A helpful trick to remember: think of a scalding hot drink to remember that caldo means hot, and think of a frigid winter day for freddo.

Why doesn't the sentence structure change to make it a question?

In English, we swap words around to ask a question (like changing 'The plate is' to 'Is the plate?'). In Italian, the word order usually stays exactly the same as a regular statement: Il piatto è caldo. (The plate is hot.) To make it a question, you just raise your voice at the end!

Can piatto also mean the food itself, like a dish?

Yes! Just like in English, piatto can mean the physical plate you eat off of, or the prepared meal itself, as in a traditional Italian dish.