Learn Italian: Un appuntamento romantico è una bella sorpresa. - A romantic date is a beautiful surprise.

In Italian, most descriptive adjectives (like romantico) go right after the noun. However, a few common adjectives like bello (beautiful), buono (good), and bravo (capable) usually go before the noun to emphasize their meaning.

Does appuntamento always mean a romantic date?

No, appuntamento just means an appointment, meeting, or gathering. You would use the exact same word for a doctor's appointment or a business meeting. Adding the adjective romantico is what makes it a romantic date here!

Appuntamento starts with a vowel. Why doesn't un have an apostrophe?

The word un only uses an apostrophe before a feminine noun that starts with a vowel, because it is acting as a shortened form of una (like in un'amica). Because appuntamento is masculine, it uses the standard masculine article un with no apostrophe.

Is there a reason why bella doesn't change to match appuntamento?

Yes! Adjectives must match the specific noun they are describing. Romantico is masculine because it describes un appuntamento. However, bella describes the feminine noun una sorpresa (a surprise), so it takes the feminine singular ending -a.