Breakdown of Le protagoniste di questo romanzo sono giovani.
essere
to be
questo
this (masculine)
giovane
young
di
of, from
il romanzo
the novel
il protagonista
the protagonist
Questions & Answers about Le protagoniste di questo romanzo sono giovani.
Wait, why is it le protagoniste with an "-e"? Aren't words ending in "-ista" the same for both genders?
They are the same in the singular (il protagonista for a male, la protagonista for a female). However, in the plural, they have distinct forms: i protagonisti for males or a mixed group, and le protagoniste for an all-female group. Here, the "-e" ending and the article le tell us the protagonists of this novel are all women.
If le protagoniste is feminine plural, why does the adjective giovani end in "-i" instead of "-e"?
Is romanzo a translation for "romance"?
No, romanzo is a classic "false friend"! It means a "novel" (a fictional book). If you want to say "romance" in the sense of a romantic story or love affair, you would use storia d'amore.
Why is it questo romanzo and not quest'romanzo?
You only drop the final vowel and add an apostrophe (quest') when the following word starts with a vowel, like quest'anno (this year) or quest'estate (this summer). Since romanzo starts with a consonant, questo keeps its final "-o".
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