Learn Italian: Il libro ha mille parole. - The book has a thousand words.

Il libro ha mille parole.

The book has a thousand words.

Breakdown of Il libro ha mille parole.

Questions & Answers about Il libro ha mille parole.

Why isn't there a word for "a" or "one" before mille?

In Italian, the word mille all by itself means "one thousand" or "a thousand". You never need to add un (a/one) in front of it. Saying un mille is incorrect.

How is ha pronounced?

The letter h is always completely silent in Italian. You pronounce ha exactly like the vowel a. The silent h is only there in writing so you do not confuse it with the preposition a (to/at).

Why does parole end in an -e?

Parole is the plural form of the feminine noun parola (word). Remember that feminine words ending in -a change their ending to -e when they become plural.

If the book had two thousand words, would I say due mille?

Close, but it would be duemila. The number mille is a special exception. When you have multiples of a thousand (two thousand, three thousand, etc.), the word changes from mille to -mila, making it duemila, tremila, and so on, written as one single word.