Learn Italian: Mio fratello non fa sport: guarda la televisione. - My brother does not do sports: he watches television.

Mio fratello non fa sport: guarda la televisione.

My brother does not do sports: he watches television.

Breakdown of Mio fratello non fa sport: guarda la televisione.

to look at / to watch

Questions & Answers about Mio fratello non fa sport: guarda la televisione.

Why is it Mio fratello and not Il mio fratello?

In Italian, you usually put a definite article before a possessive word, like il mio libro (my book). However, singular family members are an exception to this rule. Because fratello is a singular family member, it just takes mio without the il.

Why use fa instead of a word for 'plays'?

In Italian, the expression for 'to play sports' in general is fare sport (literally 'to do sport'). The verb fare is irregular, and fa is the 'he/she/it' form. If you want to talk about playing a specific game, you use giocare a, like giocare a tennis.

Why doesn't the word sport have an 's' at the end for plural?

English speakers usually say 'play sports' in the plural, but in Italian, foreign borrowed words ending in a consonant never change their endings. It is just lo sport for singular and gli sport for plural. Here, it is used without an article as a general concept.

Why is there a la before televisione when English just says 'television'?

Italian uses definite articles (like la) much more often than English does. While we say 'watches television' without 'the', Italian requires the article for everyday media and broad categories, so it is guarda la televisione.