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In questa favola, la strega odia la regina.

In questa favola, la strega odia la regina.
In this fairy tale, the witch hates the queen.
From Lesson 107:Irregular verbs in the imperfect (facevo, bevevo, dicevo)·Italian

Questions & Answers about In questa favola, la strega odia la regina.

Since this lesson covers the imperfect tense, how would we change this sentence to say the witch hated the queen?
You would change the present tense verb odia (hates) to the imperfetto. The infinitive is odiare (to hate). For regular verbs, you drop the -re and add the imperfect ending. For "she" the ending is -va, making it odiava: In questa favola, la strega odiava la regina.
If there were multiple witches in the story, how would you spell the plural of la strega?
The plural is le streghe. Because strega ends with a hard g sound (like in "go"), Italian spelling rules require us to add an h before the e in the plural to keep that hard sound. Without the h, it would be pronounced with a soft sound (like in "gel").
Why do we use questa instead of questo?
Questa means "this" and it must match the noun it describes in gender and number. Since favola (fairy tale) is a feminine singular noun, we use questa instead of the masculine questo.
Does the word favola mean "fable" or "fairy tale"?
It can mean both! Favola is commonly used in Italian to mean a "fairy tale" (like Cinderella or Snow White) as well as a traditional "fable" (a short story with a moral, often featuring animals). You might also hear the word fiaba, which is used specifically for fairy tales.

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