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Affittiamo una casa al mare per l'estate.

Affittiamo una casa al mare per l'estate.
We rent a house at the seaside for the summer.
From Lesson 146:Possessive pronouns (il mio, la tua)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Affittiamo una casa al mare per l'estate.

Who is the subject of affittiamo since there is no pronoun?
The subject is noi (we). In Italian, you usually leave out the subject pronoun because the -iamo ending already tells you exactly who is doing the action.
Why do we use al before mare?
al is a combined word made from the preposition a (at or to) and the definite article il (the). When talking about being at the seaside or going to the beach, Italian always uses al mare.
Can affittare mean renting a house to someone else as well?
Yes! The verb affittare means both to rent as a tenant and to let out as a landlord. To be absolutely clear that you are the tenant, Italians sometimes use the phrase prendere in affitto (to take in rent) instead.
Why is there an apostrophe in l'estate?
The word estate (summer) is a feminine noun that starts with a vowel. The feminine article la drops its 'a' and attaches to the noun with an apostrophe to make it flow better when speaking.
How would we say 'The house at the seaside is ours' to practice independent possessive pronouns?
You would say La casa al mare è la nostra or simply La casa al mare è nostra. When the possessive stands alone after the verb to be, it acts as an independent pronoun, and the article is often dropped.

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