Word
Tre amici di Anna sono americani.
Meaning
Three of Anna's friends are American.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Tre amici di Anna sono americani.
essere
to be
l'amico
the friend
americano
American
di
of, from
Questions & Answers about Tre amici di Anna sono americani.
Does the number tre change depending on the gender of the friends?
Why does the sentence use di Anna instead of an apostrophe 's' for Anna's?
Italian doesn't have an apostrophe-s structure for possession like English does. Instead, you always express ownership using the preposition di (of). So, 'Anna's friends' is always phrased literally as 'friends of Anna' (amici di Anna).
Why isn't the word for American (americani) capitalized?
Why does americani end in an 'i'?
In Italian, describing words (adjectives) must match the noun they describe. Because amici is a masculine plural noun, the adjective for American must also take the masculine plural ending -i, becoming americani.