Breakdown of Il principe è il figlio del re.
essere
to be
il figlio
the son
del
of the; than the (di + il)
il re
the king
Questions & Answers about Il principe è il figlio del re.
Why is it del re instead of just di il re?
In Italian, when the preposition di (of) meets the definite article il (the), they must combine into the single word del. You will almost never see di il written as separate words.
Why doesn't the word re have an accent mark, like è does?
Most single-syllable words in Italian don't take an accent mark. The verb è (is) gets one so you don't confuse it in writing with e (and). Because re (king) doesn't have a common twin word to mix it up with, it doesn't need an accent.
I learned we drop the article ('the') for family members. Why do we say il figlio here?