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Le sedie non sono di plastica.

Le sedie non sono di plastica.
The chairs are not made of plastic.
From Lesson 19:The preposition of (di)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Le sedie non sono di plastica.

Why is there no word for 'made' in the Italian sentence?
In Italian, you don't need a verb like 'made' to describe a material. You simply use the preposition di (meaning 'of') right before the material. So, di plastica directly translates to 'made of plastic'.
Can I just say 'le sedie plastiche' like we say 'the plastic chairs' in English?
No, in Italian you usually cannot use a material as an adjective. Instead of saying 'the plastic chairs', you have to phrase it as 'the chairs of plastic' using the formula noun + di + material (le sedie di plastica).
Why isn't it della plastica instead of just di plastica?
When you use di to say what material something is made out of, you usually drop the definite article (the word for 'the'). You just use di plus the raw material noun.
Why does non come before sono?
In Italian, the negative word non must go directly in front of the verb. While in English we say 'are not' (verb + not), Italian does the reverse: non sono (not + are).
How do we know sedie is plural?
The singular word for 'chair' is sedia, which is a feminine noun ending in -a. In Italian, regular feminine nouns change their ending to -e when they become plural. The plural feminine 'the' (Le) right before it also gives it away!

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