Learn Italian: Ci sono molti libri sulle mensole. - There are many books on the shelves.

Ci sono molti libri sulle mensole.

There are many books on the shelves.

Breakdown of Ci sono molti libri sulle mensole.

Questions & Answers about Ci sono molti libri sulle mensole.

Why do we use sulle instead of just su?

In Italian, when the preposition su (on) is followed by a definite article like le (the), they combine into a single word. Since mensole (shelves) is feminine plural, it takes the article le. Combining su + le gives us the articulated preposition sulle (on the).

How do we know the gender and number of mensole?

Mensole is the plural form of the feminine noun mensola (shelf). In Italian, feminine nouns that end in -a usually change their ending to -e in the plural. Because it is feminine plural, it triggers the use of le in our combined preposition sulle.

Why does the sentence start with ci sono?

Ci sono means "there are". We use it here because we are talking about multiple things (molti libri). If there were only one book on the shelf, you would use the singular form c'è (there is).

Would the word molti change if we were describing the shelves instead of the books?