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Il colore del cappotto è nero.

Il colore del cappotto è nero.
The color of the coat is black.
From Lesson 48:Articulated prepositions with di and da (del, dal)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Il colore del cappotto è nero.

How is the word del formed in this sentence?
del is an articulated preposition meaning 'of the'. It is formed by combining the preposition di (of) with the definite article il (the). In Italian, you must combine these words into one instead of saying di il.
Why do we use del instead of dello or della here?
The form of the combined preposition depends on the article of the noun following it. cappotto (coat) is a masculine singular noun starting with a consonant, so it takes the article il. When di combines with il, it always becomes del.
Since both colore and cappotto are in the sentence, which word is the adjective nero (black) agreeing with?
nero is describing Il colore (the color), so it agrees with that word. Because colore is a masculine singular noun, the adjective takes the masculine singular ending -o.
How do I know if colore is masculine or feminine since it ends in -e?
Nouns ending in -e can be either masculine or feminine, so you often just have to memorize their gender. In this sentence, the masculine article Il right before it is your clear clue that colore is masculine.

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