Breakdown of Il documento è nel secondo cassetto.
essere
to be
il documento
the document
in
in / made of (material)
il cassetto
the drawer
secondo
second
nel
in the (in + il) / while / upon (doing something)
Questions & Answers about Il documento è nel secondo cassetto.
Why does the word for 'second' end in '-o' here?
Ordinal numbers like secondo (second) act just like regular adjectives in Italian. Because it describes cassetto (drawer), which is a masculine singular noun, it takes the masculine singular ending -o. If it were describing a feminine word, it would change to seconda.
Don't Italian adjectives usually go after the noun? Why is secondo before cassetto?
You are right that most descriptive adjectives go after the noun. However, ordinal numbers (like primo, secondo, and terzo) are an exception. They almost always come before the noun they describe, exactly like they do in English.
Why do we use nel instead of just saying in il?
Why does è have an accent mark in this sentence?
The accent mark is very important because it tells you the meaning of the word! è (with the accent) means 'is' from the verb 'to be'. Without the accent, e just means 'and'.
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