Learn Italian: Il principe cerca la principessa nel bosco. - The prince looks for the princess in the woods.

In English we say 'to look for', but the Italian verb cercare already means 'to look for' or 'to seek'. You never need to add an extra preposition like per. You just put the person or thing you are looking for right after the verb: cerca la principessa.

Since principe ends in -e, how do we know it is masculine?

Italian nouns ending in -e in the singular can be either masculine or feminine. You often have to memorize their gender, but here the masculine article il is a dead giveaway. Its feminine equivalent is principessa, which uses a standard feminine -a ending.

Why do we use nel instead of just saying 'in il bosco'?

In Italian, the preposition in (in) always merges with the definite article ('the') that comes right after it. Since bosco is a masculine singular noun starting with a normal consonant, it takes the article il. When you combine in + il, you get the single word nel.

How would you change this sentence to say the prince 'was looking for' the princess?

You would use the Imperfetto tense, which describes ongoing or background actions in the past. While verbs like fare or bere (from your current lesson) are irregular in this tense, cercare is completely regular. You just drop the -are and add the 'he' ending (-ava), making it: Il principe cercava la principessa nel bosco.