Breakdown of Il mittente della lettera anonima è un tuo ammiratore?
essere
to be
un
a / an (masculine)
la lettera
the letter
di
of, from
tuo
your
l'ammiratore
the admirer (m)
anonimo
anonymous
il mittente
the sender
Questions & Answers about Il mittente della lettera anonima è un tuo ammiratore?
Why is it un tuo ammiratore instead of just tuo ammiratore or il tuo ammiratore?
In Italian, you usually need an article before a possessive adjective. To say 'an admirer of yours' or 'one of your admirers', you use the indefinite article un plus the possessive tuo. If you used the definite article and said il tuo ammiratore, it would mean 'the admirer of yours' (implying you only have one!).
How can I tell if mittente is masculine or feminine since it ends in -e?
Words ending in -e can be tricky! Here, we know mittente (sender) is masculine because of the masculine definite article il at the beginning of the sentence. Nouns ending in -ente that refer to people doing an action are often masculine, though they can be feminine if referring specifically to a woman (like la mittente).
Where does della come from in this sentence?
della is a combined preposition. It is formed by merging the word di (of) with the feminine singular definite article la (the) that goes with lettera. So, della lettera means 'of the letter'.
Why does the adjective anonima come after the noun it describes?
In Italian, descriptive adjectives like anonima (anonymous) almost always come directly after the noun they describe (lettera). This is the opposite of English, where we put the adjective first.
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