Learn Italian: L'ufficio spedisce i documenti. - The office sends the documents.

L'ufficio spedisce i documenti.

The office sends the documents.

Breakdown of L'ufficio spedisce i documenti.

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Questions & Answers about L'ufficio spedisce i documenti.

I know verbs ending in "-ire" usually just drop the "-ire" and add endings. Why is there an "-isc-" in spedisce?

Spedire (to send) belongs to a special group of -ire verbs that need the extra letters -isc- inserted before the ending in most forms of the present tense. For l'ufficio (it), we take the stem sped-, add -isc-, and then add the regular he/she/it ending -e, giving us spedisce. Other common verbs that do this include capire (to understand) and finire (to finish).

How do you pronounce the "sc" in spedisce?

It sounds like the English "sh" in "shoe". In Italian, when sc is followed by an e or an i, it makes a soft "sh" sound (spe-DEE-sheh). When sc is followed by a, o, or u, it makes a hard "sk" sound, like in scusa.

Why does the sentence use L'ufficio instead of Il ufficio?

Ufficio is a masculine singular noun that starts with a vowel (u). In Italian, the singular articles lo (masculine) and la (feminine) both drop their vowel and become l' when the next word starts with a vowel. This makes the words flow together more smoothly when speaking.

Why is it i documenti and not ?