Learn Italian: Tutti i test confermano che gli smartphone funzionano. - All the tests confirm that the smartphones work.

Tutti i test confermano che gli smartphone funzionano.

All the tests confirm that the smartphones work.

Breakdown of Tutti i test confermano che gli smartphone funzionano.

that (conjunction introducing a clause)

funzionare

to work / to function (machines, devices)

Questions & Answers about Tutti i test confermano che gli smartphone funzionano.

Why doesn't test change its ending in the plural?

In Italian, foreign loanwords that end in a consonant, like test, are invariable. This means their form doesn't change when pluralized. You just change the article to show there is more than one, so il test becomes i test.

Does smartphone follow the same rule, even though it ends in an "e"?

Yes! Even though smartphone technically ends in a vowel, Italian treats most modern English loanwords as invariable. A common mistake is adding an English "s" to the end, but in Italian it remains the same: lo smartphone (singular) becomes gli smartphone (plural).

Both test and smartphone are plural masculine nouns here. Why does one use the article i and the other uses gli?

It depends on the starting letters of the noun! Test starts with a normal consonant (t), which takes the standard plural article i. Smartphone starts with an "s" followed by another consonant (s + m). Masculine nouns starting with "s + consonant" always take lo in the singular and gli in the plural.

Why do we say tutti i test instead of just tutti test?