Breakdown of I centrotavola di vetro sono eleganti.
essere
to be
di
of, from
il vetro
the glass
elegante
elegant
il centrotavola
the centerpiece
Questions & Answers about I centrotavola di vetro sono eleganti.
Why doesn't the ending of centrotavola change in the plural?
Centrotavola is an invariable compound noun, meaning it stays exactly the same in the plural. It is made of two nouns of different genders: centro (masculine) and tavola (feminine). When a compound noun is formed this way, you usually only change the article (il to i) to make it plural, rather than changing the word's ending.
Since centrotavola ends in -a, why does it take the masculine plural article i?
The gender of a compound word made of two nouns is usually determined by the first noun, which gives the core meaning to the word. Because centro is masculine, the whole word centrotavola is masculine. Even though it ends in the feminine -a from tavola, we use the masculine articles il (singular) and i (plural).
Why do we use di vetro instead of an adjective for "glass"?
In Italian, nouns for materials aren't used directly as adjectives like they are in English. Instead, you use the preposition di (of) followed by the noun for the material. So, "glass centerpieces" literally becomes "centerpieces of glass" (i centrotavola di vetro).
How does eleganti match centrotavola if they have different endings?
Adjectives must match the gender and number of the noun they describe, but they follow their own ending patterns. The singular adjective elegante ends in -e, which means it changes to -i for all plurals, whether masculine or feminine. Since i centrotavola is plural, the adjective becomes eleganti to match it.
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