Log inSign up

Il ragazzo dai capelli castani e ricci ha un tatuaggio e una cicatrice.

Il ragazzo dai capelli castani e ricci ha un tatuaggio e una cicatrice.
The boy with brown, curly hair has a tattoo and a scar.
From Lesson 260:Describing physical features (dal, dagli)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Il ragazzo dai capelli castani e ricci ha un tatuaggio e una cicatrice.

Why does the sentence use dai capelli instead of con i capelli for "with brown hair"?
In Italian, the preposition da (combined here with the article i to make dai) is the standard way to describe a person's physical characteristics, distinctive features, or clothing. While con literally means "with", using da is the natural, idiomatic way to describe what someone looks like.
How is the word dai formed in this sentence?
Dai is an articulated preposition, which just means it is a preposition merged with an article. Here, it combines the preposition da with i, which is the masculine plural definite article needed for capelli.
I thought "brown" was marrone. Why does this sentence use castani?
Castano (plural castani) is a specific word for "brown" that is exclusively used for hair and eye color. It comes from the word for chestnut. If you were talking about a brown shirt or a brown dog, you would use marrone.
The word cicatrice ends in -e, so how can I easily remember that it takes the feminine article una?
Nouns ending in -trice are almost always feminine in Italian. You will often see this ending on female professions (like attrice for actress), but even everyday words like cicatrice (scar) or lavatrice (washing machine) follow this same feminine rule.

Learn Il ragazzo dai capelli castani e ricci ha un tatuaggio e una cicatrice 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
Start learning Italian →