Learn Italian: Quante fragole mangia il bambino? - How many strawberries does the child eat?

Quante fragole mangia il bambino?

How many strawberries does the child eat?

Breakdown of Quante fragole mangia il bambino?

Questions & Answers about Quante fragole mangia il bambino?

Why does the sentence use quante instead of just quanto?

The word quanto (how much/how many) changes its ending to match the noun it goes with. Because fragole (strawberries) is feminine and plural, quanto changes to its feminine plural form, quante.

How do we know fragole is feminine and plural?

The singular word for strawberry is fragola. Since it ends in -a, it is a feminine noun. To make feminine nouns plural in Italian, the ending -a changes to an -e, giving us fragole.

Why does the subject il bambino come at the very end of the question?

In Italian questions that start with a question word like quante, it is very common and natural to place the subject after the verb. The sentence structure literally translates to 'How many strawberries eats the child?'.

Where is the word for 'does' in this sentence?

Italian does not use helper words like 'do' or 'does' to form questions. The single verb mangia covers 'eats', 'is eating', and 'does eat'.