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L'aereo è veloce, l'auto è lenta.

L'aereo è veloce, l'auto è lenta.
The plane is fast, the car is slow.
From Lesson 43:Location and destination (a, in)·Italian

Questions & Answers about L'aereo è veloce, l'auto è lenta.

Why do we use l' for both aereo and auto?
In Italian, when a singular noun begins with a vowel, the definite articles il, lo, and la drop their last letter and become l'. This makes the words flow together smoothly.
The word auto ends in an o, so why does it use the feminine adjective lenta instead of lento?
Auto is a tricky exception to the usual rule that words ending in o are masculine. It is short for automobile, which is a feminine noun in Italian. Even when it is shortened to auto, it keeps its feminine gender, so it must take the feminine adjective lenta.
Since aereo is masculine, why does veloce end in an e rather than an o?
Italian has two main groups of adjectives. The first group changes its ending to match the gender of the noun, like lento for masculine and lenta for feminine. The second group ends in -e in the singular and is used for both masculine and feminine nouns. Veloce belongs to this second group.
Why is there an accent mark on the word è?
The accent mark tells you this is the verb è, which translates to is. If you write it without the accent, the word becomes e, which translates to and. The accent is a helpful clue to tell these two common words apart!

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