Questions & Answers about È il libro di Marco.
Why does the sentence use di Marco instead of Marco's?
Italian does not have an apostrophe-s to show ownership. Instead, you must phrase it as 'the book of Marco'. The preposition di means 'of', so di Marco shows that the book belongs to him.
Why do we need the word il here? English doesn't say 'It is the Marco's book.'
Because of the way Italian handles possession, you are literally saying 'It is the book of Marco'. Since you are talking about a specific book, you must include the definite article il (the) before libro.
Where is the word for 'It' at the beginning of the sentence?
Italian often drops subject pronouns like 'it', 'he', or 'she' because the verb itself gives enough information. The verb È means 'is', and the 'it' is simply understood from the context.
Could I use da instead of di here?
No, because they have completely different jobs. The preposition di translates to 'of' and is used to show ownership. The word da usually means 'from', so saying da Marco would mean the book is from Marco, not that it is his property.