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L'esame è difficile, devono studiare.

L'esame è difficile, devono studiare.
The exam is difficult, they have to study.
From Lesson 58:The verb must (dovere)·Italian

Breakdown of L'esame è difficile, devono studiare.

essere
to be
difficile
difficult
studiare
to study
dovere
must
l'esame
exam

Questions & Answers about L'esame è difficile, devono studiare.

Why is there no word for 'to' between devono and studiare?
In English, we say 'have to study', but in Italian, the modal verb dovere (to have to / must) connects directly to the infinitive form of the next verb. Studiare already means 'to study', so you don't need any extra words in between!
Where is the word for 'they' in the second part of the sentence?
The 'they' is built right into the verb! Devono is the 'they' (loro) form of the verb dovere. In Italian, you usually drop the subject pronoun because the verb ending already tells you who is doing the action.
Esame is a masculine word, so why does difficile end in an -e instead of an -o?
Not all masculine adjectives end in -o. Difficile belongs to a group of adjectives that end in -e for both masculine and feminine singular nouns. If we were talking about multiple exams, the ending would change to an -i: Gli esami sono difficili.
Why is it L'esame and not Il esame?
Because esame starts with a vowel. For masculine singular words that start with a vowel, the standard 'the' (il) drops its vowel and becomes l' so the words flow together easily when spoken.

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