Breakdown of L'autore ha scritto una poesia per sua moglie.
una
a / an (feminine)
suo
his/her/Your
la moglie
the wife
scrivere
to write
per
for / in order to / because of
l'autore
the author (m)
la poesia
the poem
Questions & Answers about L'autore ha scritto una poesia per sua moglie.
Why is there no article before sua moglie? Shouldn't it be la sua moglie?
What is the infinitive of scritto, and why doesn't it end in -uto?
The infinitive is scrivere (to write). It has an irregular past participle. Instead of following the regular -ere pattern to become 'scrivuto', it becomes scritto. Since it uses avere (ha) as its auxiliary (helping) verb, the ending doesn't change to match the subject.
I thought poesia meant 'poetry'. Can it also mean 'a poem'?
Yes! The word poesia translates to both the general art form of 'poetry' and a single, countable 'poem'. Here, una poesia clearly refers to a single poem.
If the author were female, would the rest of the sentence change?
The word for a female author is l'autrice, so the sentence would begin L'autrice ha scritto... Interestingly, the rest of the sentence wouldn't change! The possessive sua (his/her) agrees with the gender of the noun it modifies (moglie), not the possessor, so it remains sua moglie whether the author is male or female.
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