Learn Italian: C'è un sacco di gente al bar. - There are a lot of people at the bar.

C'è un sacco di gente al bar.

There are a lot of people at the bar.

Breakdown of C'è un sacco di gente al bar.

Questions & Answers about C'è un sacco di gente al bar.

Why does the sentence use C'è (There is) when the English translation says "There are"?

In Italian, gente (people) is a singular feminine noun, similar to the English concept of "the crowd." Because the noun is grammatically singular, the verb must also be singular, which is why we use c'è instead of the plural ci sono.

What does un sacco di literally mean, and how is it used here?

Literally, un sacco means "a sack" or "a bag." In everyday conversational Italian, un sacco di is a very common, informal way to say "a lot of" or "a ton of," much like saying "loads of" in English.

How would I change this sentence to say there are a lot of bad or shady people at the bar, using the suffixes from this lesson?

You can drop the final vowel of the feminine noun gente and add the pejorative suffix -accia to make gentaccia. The sentence would then become: C'è un sacco di gentaccia al bar.

Could I also apply a derogatory suffix to the bar in this sentence to mean a run-down, trashy dive bar?

Yes! Even though bar is an English loanword, it is treated as a regular masculine noun in Italian. You can add the suffix -accio to the word to create baraccio (a dive bar). For example: C'è un sacco di gente in quel baraccio.