Learn Italian: Vedi il ragazzo dalla cicatrice? - Do you see the boy with the scar?

Vedi il ragazzo dalla cicatrice?

Do you see the boy with the scar?

Breakdown of Vedi il ragazzo dalla cicatrice?

with (a physical feature)

la cicatrice

scar

Questions & Answers about Vedi il ragazzo dalla cicatrice?

Why does this sentence use dalla instead of con la for "with the"?

In Italian, when you identify someone by a permanent physical trait or a distinctive feature, you use the preposition da combined with a definite article. Here, da + la becomes dalla. While English uses "with", Italian uses this structure to point out identifying marks, clothing, or physical features.

Can I still say con la cicatrice instead?

Yes, Vedi il ragazzo con la cicatrice? is grammatically correct and widely used in everyday speech. However, using dalla is a very natural, slightly more elegant way to describe a defining characteristic. It makes the feature act almost like a title or a defining name for the person.

Cicatrice ends in -e. How do we know to use dalla instead of dal?

Nouns ending in -e in Italian can be either masculine or feminine, so their gender often just has to be memorized. Cicatrice (scar) happens to be a feminine noun. Because it is feminine and starts with a consonant, it takes the singular article la. When combined with da, it forms dalla.

How would I change this to plural, like "the boys with the scars"?