Learn Italian: I prof hanno spiegato la storia dei cinema. - The profs explained the history of the cinemas.

I prof hanno spiegato la storia dei cinema.

The profs explained the history of the cinemas.

Breakdown of I prof hanno spiegato la storia dei cinema.

Questions & Answers about I prof hanno spiegato la storia dei cinema.

Why is the plural of prof just prof instead of adding an -i?

prof is a clipped (shortened) version of professore (teacher/professor). In Italian, nouns that are created by abbreviating a longer word are invariable—they don't change their endings in the plural. You just change the article, which is why we use i prof.

Why is it dei cinema and not dei cinemi?

Just like prof, cinema is an abbreviated word (short for the older word cinematografo). Because it's a shortened word, its ending stays exactly the same in the plural. To say "the cinemas", you just use the plural article i, which combines with di (of) to make dei cinema.

If prof and cinema don't change their endings, how do we know they are plural here?

You have to look at the words around them! For prof, the plural article i and the plural verb hanno tell us there is more than one teacher. For cinema, the combined preposition dei (di + i) tells us it means "of the cinemas" rather than "of the cinema" (which would be del cinema).

Could la storia also mean "the story" instead of "the history" in this sentence?