Learn Italian: Il personale è così disorganizzato come il proprietario. - The staff is as disorganized as the owner.

The prefix dis- is very common before words starting with a vowel to create an opposite meaning. While Italian also uses in- and s- for negatives, in- often attaches to consonants (sometimes changing to im- or il-), and s- is also mostly used before consonants. For organizzato, dis- is the natural choice, mirroring the English word.

Does the prefix dis- change its spelling depending on the word it attaches to?

No, unlike the prefix in- (which can change to im-, ir-, or il- depending on the consonant that follows it), the prefix dis- always remains exactly the same. You just attach it directly to the base word, as seen in disorganizzato.

Why does the sentence use the singular verb è if 'staff' refers to a group of people?

In Italian, il personale is a collective noun. Even though it implies a group of employees, the word itself is grammatically singular. Because of this, it must take the third-person singular verb è and the singular masculine adjective disorganizzato.

Can I use tanto... quanto instead of così... come for this comparison?