Learn Italian: L'acqua del lago è chiara. - The water of the lake is clear.

L'acqua del lago è chiara.

The water of the lake is clear.

Breakdown of L'acqua del lago è chiara.

of the; than the (di + il)

Questions & Answers about L'acqua del lago è chiara.

Why do we use del instead of just di here?

Del is a combined word made by merging the preposition di (of) and the article il (the). Because the sentence is talking about a specific lake, Italian requires the definite article. So, di + il = del ("of the").

Why is the adjective chiara and not chiaro?

Adjectives in Italian must match the gender and number of the noun they describe. Because l'acqua (the water) is a feminine singular noun, the adjective changes its ending to match, becoming chiara.

Why does chiara have an "h" in it?

The "h" is there to keep the hard "k" sound! In Italian, the letter "c" makes a soft sound (like in "cheese") when followed by "i" or "e". To keep the hard "c" sound from the root word chiaro, an "h" is inserted.

Does chiara only mean "clear" as in transparent water?

It means "clear" in a few different ways! It can mean transparent (like this lake), easy to understand (like a clear explanation), or "light" when talking about colors (for example, blu chiaro means light blue).