Learn Italian: Lei ha scritto una recensione lunghissima per il ristorante. - She wrote a very long review for the restaurant.

Lei ha scritto una recensione lunghissima per il ristorante.

She wrote a very long review for the restaurant.

Breakdown of Lei ha scritto una recensione lunghissima per il ristorante.

Questions & Answers about Lei ha scritto una recensione lunghissima per il ristorante.

Why is there an 'h' in lunghissima?

The base adjective is lungo (masculine) or lunga (feminine). When you drop the final vowel to add the -issima ending, you add an 'h' to keep the hard 'g' sound. Without the 'h', the 'g' followed by an 'i' would be pronounced like the 'j' in 'jeep'.

Does the -issimo suffix change to match the noun?

Yes! Even though the base suffix is -issimo, it acts just like a normal adjective. Since it describes una recensione (a feminine singular noun), it must end in '-a', making it lunghissima.

How can you tell that recensione is a feminine noun?

While nouns ending in '-e' can be either masculine or feminine, words ending in -sione or -zione are almost always feminine. You can also see the feminine clues in this sentence: the article una and the adjective ending in -issima.

Why is the verb ha scritto instead of 'ha scrivuto'?

The verb scrivere (to write) has an irregular past participle. Instead of following the normal pattern for -ere verbs, it changes to scritto. You will use this form whenever you talk about writing in the past tense.