Breakdown of Gli smartphone sono i gadget più popolari oggi.
essere
to be
oggi
today
più
more / anymore (with 'non')
popolare
popular
lo smartphone
the smartphone
il gadget
the gadget
Questions & Answers about Gli smartphone sono i gadget più popolari oggi.
Why aren't smartphone and gadget pluralized as smartphones and gadgets?
Why do we use gli for smartphone but i for gadget?
The choice of article depends on the first letters of the word, just like native Italian nouns. Smartphone starts with an 's' followed by another consonant ('m'), so it requires the masculine plural article gli. Gadget starts with a single regular consonant ('g'), so it takes the standard masculine plural article i.
How does the phrase i gadget più popolari translate to 'the most popular gadgets'?
To say 'the most [adjective]' in Italian, you use the definite article followed by the noun, then più, and finally the adjective. Here, i is the article, gadget is the noun, and più popolari means 'more popular'. Together, they form the relative superlative 'the most popular gadgets'.
Since smartphone and gadget don't change in the plural, why does popolari end in -i?
Even though the foreign nouns are invariable, they are still grammatically plural in this sentence. Any Italian adjectives describing them must agree in number. The adjective popolare (popular) ends in -e in the singular, so it must change to its regular plural form, popolari.
Learn Gli smartphone sono i gadget più popolari oggi 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