Breakdown of Il pompiere spegne il fuoco.
spegnere
to turn off
il fuoco
the fire (element, controlled)
il pompiere
the firefighter
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Questions & Answers about Il pompiere spegne il fuoco.
The current lesson is about using da for professions. Why isn't there a da before pompiere here?
The preposition da is used to mean "as a" or "in the role of," like in lavora da pompiere (he works as a firefighter). In this sentence, il pompiere is simply the subject performing the action, so you just use the definite article il without a preposition.
Spegne means "puts out". What is the infinitive form, and is it irregular?
The infinitive is spegnere (to extinguish or to turn off). It is irregular in the present tense because a hard G sound appears in the "I" and "they" forms: io spengo and loro spengono. For the firefighter (he), it uses the regular stem: lui spegne.
Can I use spegnere for things other than literal fires?