Learn Italian: Questo è un altro libro.

Questo è un altro libro.

This is another book.

Breakdown of Questo è un altro libro.

Questions & Answers about Questo è un altro libro.

Why is "another" translated as two words (un altro) instead of one?

In English, "another" comes from joining "an" and "other". In Italian, these words always stay separate: un (a/an) and altro (other).

Why is there no apostrophe between un and altro? I thought we use apostrophes before vowels.

You only use an apostrophe with the feminine article una when it drops its last letter before a vowel (like un'altra). Because libro is masculine, it takes the standard masculine article un, which never uses an apostrophe.

How would this sentence change if we were talking about a feminine noun, like a car (macchina)?

You would need to change the words to match the feminine gender. Questo becomes Questa, and un altro becomes un'altra (with an apostrophe!). So you would say: Questa è un'altra macchina.

Could I just say Questo è altro libro without the un?

No, just like in English where you say "an-other book" and not just "other book", Italian requires the article un before a singular noun like libro in this context.