Learn Italian: Il colore del mare è bello. - The color of the sea is beautiful.

Il colore del mare è bello.

The color of the sea is beautiful.

Breakdown of Il colore del mare è bello.

Questions & Answers about Il colore del mare è bello.

How do we get the word del in this sentence?

del is an "articulated preposition." It is formed by combining the preposition di (of) with the definite article il (the). In Italian, when di and il are next to each other, they merge into a single word: del (of the).

How do I know to use del instead of dello or della for mare?

To choose the correct form of di + "the", you look at the noun that follows it. mare (sea) is a masculine singular noun that starts with a consonant, so its definite article is il. Since di + il = del, we use del. Remember that while many masculine nouns end in -o, some end in -e, like il mare!

Does bello agree with colore or mare?

bello (beautiful) agrees with il colore (the color), which is the main subject of the sentence. Because colore is a masculine singular noun, the adjective takes the masculine singular ending -o. Even though mare happens to be masculine singular as well, the grammar connects bello back to colore.

Why does è have an accent mark?