Anna guarda il quadro.

Questions & Answers about Anna guarda il quadro.

Why isn't there an Italian word for "at" in this sentence?
In English, we say "looks at", which uses a preposition. But the Italian verb guardare already means "to look at" (or "to watch"). You don't need to add an extra word for "at". Anna just looks the painting: Anna guarda il quadro.
How do we get guarda from the dictionary verb guardare?
Guardare is a regular verb ending in -are. To make it match Anna (which is "she", or the third-person singular), we drop the -are ending and add -a. So, the base of the verb guard- gets an -a at the end, becoming guarda.
Why does this sentence use il instead of lo for "the"?
Quadro is a masculine, singular noun, so it needs a masculine, singular word for "the". We use il for most masculine words starting with a consonant. The word lo is only used for masculine words starting with specific sounds, like a z or an s followed by another consonant. Since quadro starts with a q, il is the right choice!

Learn Anna guarda il quadro and more in Italian

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • Practice with interactive exercises
  • Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • Learn at your own pace — completely free