Questions & Answers about Maria è una buon'alunna.
Why does buon' have an apostrophe here?
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.
If we were talking about a male pupil (Mario), would we write "un buon'alunno"?
Why is the article una instead of un', since alunna starts with a vowel?
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.
I learned that adjectives usually come after the noun. Why is it una buon'alunna instead of una alunna buona?