Log inSign up

La donna snella ha le cosce lisce.

La donna snella ha le cosce lisce.
The slender woman has smooth thighs.
From Lesson 243:Feminine noun plurals in -cia and -gia (-ce, -ge)·Italian

Questions & Answers about La donna snella ha le cosce lisce.

Why do cosce and lisce end in -ce instead of -cie?
This follows the main spelling rule for feminine words ending in unstressed -cia. If the letter right before -cia is a consonant (like the s in coscia and liscia), the plural drops the i and becomes -ce. If the letter before it was a vowel, the plural would keep the i.
Does dropping the i in the plurals cosce and lisce change their pronunciation?
No, the consonant sound remains exactly the same. In the singular forms coscia and liscia, the i is silent and only exists to make the sc combination soft, sounding like the English "sh". In the plurals cosce and lisce, the letter e naturally creates that same soft "sh" sound, so the i is completely unnecessary for pronunciation.
Why does the sentence use the definite article in ha le cosce if the English translation doesn't say "the thighs"?
In Italian, definite articles like le are almost always required before nouns referring to body parts, even in general descriptions where English would leave the article out. It is simply the most natural way to state physical characteristics in Italian.
Could I change the word order and say lisce cosce instead?
For factual physical descriptions, descriptive adjectives like lisce and snella must go after the noun. Placing an adjective like this before the noun in Italian usually makes it sound highly poetic or dramatic, which feels unnatural for an ordinary description.

Learn La donna snella ha le cosce lisce 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 →