Question 1

Why does buon' have an apostrophe here?

Accepted Answer

Buon' is the shortened form of the feminine adjective buona (good). When buona is placed directly before a feminine noun that starts with a vowel, like alunna, the final 'a' is dropped and replaced with an apostrophe. This makes the two words flow together smoothly when speaking.

Question 2

If we were talking about a male pupil (Mario), would we write "un buon'alunno"?

Accepted Answer

No, for a male pupil you would write un buon alunno without the apostrophe. For masculine words, the adjective buono drops its 'o' to become buon before a vowel or most consonants, but it never takes an apostrophe. The apostrophe is only used for feminine nouns to show that the 'a' was dropped.

Question 3

Why is the article una instead of un', since alunna starts with a vowel?

Accepted Answer

The indefinite article always matches the word immediately following it. Even though the main noun alunna starts with a vowel, the word right after the article is the adjective buon', which starts with the consonant 'b'. Because of that 'b', you must use the standard feminine article una.

Question 4

I learned that adjectives usually come after the noun. Why is it una buon'alunna instead of una alunna buona?

Accepted Answer

While most Italian adjectives do follow the noun they describe, a small group of very common adjectives relating to goodness, beauty, age, and size are exceptions. Buono is one of these exceptions, so it usually comes right before the noun.

Maria è una buon'alunna.

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