Breakdown of Marco esce il martedì con un amico.
un
a / an (masculine)
l'amico
the friend (m)
Marco
Marco
con
with
uscire
to go out
il martedì
Tuesday
Questions & Answers about Marco esce il martedì con un amico.
If the verb is uscire, why does it start with an 'e' here (esce)?
Uscire (to go out) is a highly irregular verb. In the present tense, the 'u' at the beginning changes to an 'e' for most forms: io esco, tu esci, lui/lei esce, and loro escono. It only keeps the 'u' in the 'we' and 'you all' forms: noi usciamo and voi uscite.
The English translation says 'on Tuesdays', but why is there an il (the) before martedì?
In Italian, putting a definite article (like il or la) before a day of the week means the action happens regularly on that day. So, il martedì translates to 'on Tuesdays' or 'every Tuesday'.
How would I say Marco is going out just this Tuesday, rather than every Tuesday?
Since amico starts with a vowel, shouldn't it be un'amico with an apostrophe?
No, the apostrophe is only used for feminine nouns that start with a vowel (like un'amica). Because amico is masculine, it uses the standard masculine word for 'a/an', which is un with no apostrophe.
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