Breakdown of Il gatto è sul divano.
essere
to be
il gatto
the cat
il divano
the sofa
sul
on the; about the (su + il)
Questions & Answers about Il gatto è sul divano.
Where does the word sul come from?
It is a combination of the preposition su (on) and the masculine singular definite article il (the). In Italian, when these two words are next to each other, they must combine into the single word sul. You cannot write su il.
Why use sul instead of another form like sulla or sullo?
The combined word always matches the article of the noun that follows it. Because divano (sofa) is a masculine singular noun that starts with a consonant, it uses the article il. Therefore, su + il becomes sul. If the cat were on a chair (sedia), which is feminine and uses the article la, you would say sulla instead.
Could we use the preposition 'in' instead of 'su' here?
Why is there an accent mark on the word è?
The accent mark is very important because it distinguishes this word from another basic word. With the accent, è is a verb meaning "is" (from the verb essere). Without the accent, e simply means "and".
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