Log inSign up

Il brutto di questo design è lo stile banale.

Il brutto di questo design è lo stile banale.
The ugly part of this design is the banal style.
From Lesson 289:Abstract nouns from adjectives (il bello, il nuovo)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Il brutto di questo design è lo stile banale.

Why does the sentence use Il brutto to mean 'The ugly part'?
In Italian, you can turn an adjective into an abstract noun by putting the masculine singular definite article (il) in front of it. So brutto (ugly) becomes il brutto (the ugly part / the ugly thing). You will often see this with other adjectives too, like il bello (the beautiful part) or il nuovo (the new stuff).
Why does the sentence use lo before stile instead of il?
Because stile is a masculine word that starts with an 's' followed by another consonant ('s' + 't'). Masculine nouns starting with this combination (or with z, ps, gn, or y) always take lo instead of il.
If stile is masculine, shouldn't the adjective banale end in -o?
Not all adjectives have a base form ending in -o. Banale belongs to a group of adjectives that end in -e in the singular, which are used for both masculine and feminine nouns. If we were talking about plural styles, it would change to -i (gli stili banali).
How do we know the gender of an English loanword like design?
Italian frequently borrows words from English, especially in fields like technology, fashion, and art. When foreign words are adopted into Italian, they are almost always treated as masculine by default. That is why it pairs with the masculine adjective questo (this).

Learn Il brutto di questo design è lo stile banale 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 →