Learn Italian: È un paradigma che non conosco. - It's a paradigm that I don't know.

È un paradigma che non conosco.

It's a paradigm that I don't know.

Breakdown of È un paradigma che non conosco.

Questions & Answers about È un paradigma che non conosco.

Why does the sentence use un paradigma instead of una paradigma if the word ends in -a?

Paradigma is one of the special nouns of Greek origin ending in -ma. Even though it ends in -a, it is completely masculine in Italian. That is why it takes the masculine indefinite article un instead of the feminine una, just like un problema or un sistema.

If I wanted to talk about multiple paradigms, how would this word change?

Because it is a masculine noun, its plural form follows the regular masculine rule and ends in -i. The plural of paradigma is paradigmi. To say "They are paradigms that I don't know," you would say Sono paradigmi che non conosco.

Why use conosco here instead of so for "I know"?

In Italian, conoscere is used when you are familiar or acquainted with a noun, such as a person, a place, or a concept like a paradigm. The verb sapere (which gives us so for "I know") is only used for knowing facts or knowing how to do an action.

Can I drop the word che like we often drop "that" in English?

No. In English, you can say "It's a paradigm I don't know," dropping the connecting word. In Italian, you can never drop the relative pronoun. You must always include che to link the two halves of the sentence.