Breakdown of La festa finisce a mezzanotte.
finire
to finish
a
to / at
la festa
party
la mezzanotte
midnight
Questions & Answers about La festa finisce a mezzanotte.
Why is it a mezzanotte instead of alle mezzanotte?
When talking about time, we usually use alle (at the) for numbers, like alle tre (at three). However, mezzanotte (midnight) and mezzogiorno (noon) are singular words, not plural numbers. Because of this, we just use the simple preposition a (at) without the article.
Does mezzanotte literally mean "half night"?
Yes! It combines mezza (half) and notte (night). You will see the exact same pattern for noon: mezzogiorno (mezzo + giorno, meaning "half day").
Why does the verb finisce have an "isc" in the middle?
The verb here is finire (to finish). It belongs to a special group of verbs that add -isc- before the ending in most present tense forms. So, for "it finishes", we drop the -ire and add -isce, giving us finisce.