ELONIO
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Il tuo telefono è nuovo?

Il tuo telefono è nuovo?
Is your phone new?
From Lesson 20:Singular possessives (il mio, la mia)·Italian

Breakdown of Il tuo telefono è nuovo?

essere
to be
nuovo
new
il telefono
the phone
tuo
your

Questions & Answers about Il tuo telefono è nuovo?

Why is there an il before tuo? Doesn't that mean 'the your phone'?
Yes, literally it translates to 'the your phone'! In Italian, possessive words like tuo (your) almost always need a definite article (like il or la) in front of them. You can't just say tuo telefono; it must be il tuo telefono.
Why is it il tuo instead of la tua?
Possessives must match the gender and number of the thing being owned, not the person who owns it. Since telefono (phone) is a masculine singular noun, you must use the masculine singular forms il and tuo.
In English we swap the words to ask a question ('Is your phone new?'). Why isn't the Italian sentence È il tuo telefono nuovo?
In Italian, you don't need to change the word order to turn a statement into a question. You just keep the normal sentence structure (Il tuo telefono è nuovo) and raise the pitch of your voice at the end when speaking, or add a question mark in writing.
Why does nuovo end in -o here?
Nuovo (new) is an adjective describing the telefono. Just like the article and the possessive word (il tuo), adjectives must match the noun they describe. Because telefono is masculine singular, nuovo takes the masculine singular -o.

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