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Il bambino tira la palla contro l'albero.

Il bambino tira la palla contro l'albero.
The child throws the ball against the tree.
From Lesson 120:Informal affirmative commands·Italian

Questions & Answers about Il bambino tira la palla contro l'albero.

Wait, I thought this lesson was about commands. Is tira a command here?
In this sentence, tira is the normal present tense meaning "he throws". However, the informal tu (you) command for regular -are verbs like tirare is exactly the same! If you wanted to command the child "Throw the ball!", you would also say "Tira la palla!".
I thought tirare meant "to pull". Why does it mean "throws" here?
Tirare is a very versatile verb. While its primary meaning is indeed "to pull", in the context of sports and games it usually means to throw, shoot, or kick a ball. You will often hear it used in soccer for taking a shot at the goal!
Why is it contro l'albero instead of combining the preposition and article into one word?
Unlike prepositions such as a, di, or in, the word contro (against) does not combine with the definite article to make a single merged word. You just leave them separate as contro il, contro la, or contro l', which makes it very easy to use!
Just a quick refresher, why is it l'albero and not il albero?
Because albero is a masculine noun that starts with a vowel. In Italian, the masculine singular article il changes to l' before a vowel so the words flow together smoothly when speaking.

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