Learn Italian: Ogni tesoro sepolto ha qualcosa di prezioso, come l'oro. - Every buried treasure has something precious, like gold.

Ogni tesoro sepolto ha qualcosa di prezioso, come l'oro.

Every buried treasure has something precious, like gold.

Breakdown of Ogni tesoro sepolto ha qualcosa di prezioso, come l'oro.

Questions & Answers about Ogni tesoro sepolto ha qualcosa di prezioso, come l'oro.

Why is there a di in the middle of qualcosa di prezioso?

When you use an adjective to describe indefinite pronouns like qualcosa (something) or niente (nothing), Italian requires the preposition di to link them. You cannot just put them side by side like in English. That is why something precious translates to qualcosa di prezioso.

Why does the adjective end in -o (prezioso) when qualcosa ends in -a?

Even though qualcosa ends in -a, it is treated grammatically as a masculine singular word when you link an adjective to it. Therefore, any adjective following qualcosa di will use its masculine singular form, like prezioso.

Could I say Tutti i tesori instead of Ogni tesoro?

Yes! Ogni means every or each and must always be followed by a singular noun with no article (Ogni tesoro). If you use Tutti (all), you must use the plural noun and include the definite article (Tutti i tesori). Both work well to express the same idea here.

Why does the sentence say come l'oro instead of just come oro?

In Italian, definite articles (like l', il, or la) are required when you are talking about general concepts, broad categories, or substances. Because we are talking about gold as a general substance here, it needs the article.