ELONIO
Log inSign up

Tutte le scimmie saltano nel recinto.

Tutte le scimmie saltano nel recinto.
All the monkeys are jumping in the enclosure.
From Lesson 164:The quantifier all (tutto il)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Tutte le scimmie saltano nel recinto.

Why do we need le after tutte? Can't we just say tutte scimmie?
In Italian, when you use a form of tutto (meaning 'all'), you must include the definite article before the noun. You cannot skip it like we sometimes do in English. It has to be tutte le scimmie, which literally translates to 'all the monkeys'.
Why is the word for 'all' written as tutte here instead of tutti?
The word tutto acts like an adjective, meaning its ending has to match the gender and number of the noun it describes. Because scimmie is a feminine plural noun (the plural of scimmia), tutto must change its ending to the feminine plural form, tutte.
Why does the sentence use nel instead of just in?
Nel is a combined word (an articulated preposition). When the preposition in (in) is followed by the definite article il (the) for the masculine singular noun recinto, they merge together to become nel. In Italian, you never write in il as separate words.
Why is saltano translated as 'are jumping' instead of just 'jump'?
The Italian simple present tense, like saltano, translates to both 'jump' and 'are jumping' in English. Italian uses the simple present to describe actions happening right now much more often than English does, so you don't always need a special continuous tense.

Learn Tutte le scimmie saltano nel recinto and more in Italian

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
  • ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free
Start learning Italian →