Hai visto tutte le tigri nella gabbia?

Questions & Answers about Hai visto tutte le tigri nella gabbia?

Why is it tutte le tigri instead of just tutte tigri?
In Italian, when you want to say "all the [noun]" or "all [noun]", you must use tutto/a/i/e followed by the definite article (the "the" word). You can never skip the article like we sometimes do in English. So it must be tutte (all) + le (the) + tigri (tigers).
Wait, why is it le tigri? Doesn't the -i ending mean it's masculine plural?
Not always! The singular word for tiger is la tigre, which is a feminine noun that ends in -e. Nouns ending in -e in the singular always change to -i in the plural, regardless of their gender. So la tigre becomes le tigri, and the word for "all" must match this feminine plural form to become tutte.
If the tigers are feminine plural, why is the verb visto instead of viste?
Because the helping verb here is avere (hai). In this past tense, the past participle (visto) usually only changes its ending to match gender and number if the helping verb is essere. With avere, it stays in the default -o form (unless you use a direct object pronoun right before the verb, which isn't happening here).
How did "in the cage" become nella gabbia?
In Italian, the preposition in (in) always merges with the definite article that follows it to create a single word. Here, in + la combines to make nella.

Learn Hai visto tutte le tigri nella gabbia 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