Learn Italian: Il mio fratellino ha sempre fame. - My little brother is always hungry.

Il mio fratellino ha sempre fame.

My little brother is always hungry.

Breakdown of Il mio fratellino ha sempre fame.

Questions & Answers about Il mio fratellino ha sempre fame.

What does the suffix -ino do to the word fratello?

It's a diminutive! You take the base word fratello (brother), drop the final -o, and add the suffix -ino to make it mean "little brother." Using these suffixes is much more common and natural in Italian than adding the adjective piccolo (small).

Wait, I learned that we drop the "il" or "la" for singular family members. Why is it Il mio fratellino instead of just Mio fratellino?

Excellent catch! The general rule is that singular family members don't take the definite article (so, it is just mio fratello). However, as soon as you modify the family member with an alteration suffix like -ino or -one, that rule disappears. Because it's a modified noun, the article comes back: il mio fratellino.

Why does the sentence use ha (he has) instead of è (he is) for "he is hungry"?

In Italian, you don't "be" hungry, you "have" hunger. For basic physical feelings like hunger (fame), thirst (sete), heat (caldo), and cold (freddo), Italian always uses the verb avere (to have). So, ha fame translates literally to "he has hunger."

Why is sempre placed in the middle of ha fame?