Learn Italian: La segreteria è chiusa il pomeriggio. - The administrative office is closed in the afternoon.

La segreteria è chiusa il pomeriggio.

The administrative office is closed in the afternoon.

Breakdown of La segreteria è chiusa il pomeriggio.

the administrative office (e.g. a school's registrar)

Questions & Answers about La segreteria è chiusa il pomeriggio.

If I want to report this statement and say 'He said the office was closed', how does the tense change?

To report this in the past, you shift the present tense verb è back to the imperfetto tense era. The indirect speech sentence becomes Ha detto che la segreteria era chiusa il pomeriggio.

Why does it use il pomeriggio instead of something like nel pomeriggio for 'in the afternoon'?

In Italian, using the definite article il before a part of the day or a day of the week implies a recurring habit. Here, il pomeriggio implies the office is closed every afternoon, which is the most natural way to talk about standard operating hours.

Why is it chiusa and not chiuso?

The word chiusa is an adjective here (acting as a state of being, derived from the past participle of the verb chiudere). It must match the gender and number of the noun it describes. Because la segreteria is feminine singular, the adjective must end in -a.

Does segreteria refer to a person or a place?

It refers to a place or a department. A secretary (the person) would be il segretario or la segretaria. The word segreteria means the administrative office, the secretariat, or the reception desk. It can also mean an answering machine (segreteria telefonica).