Breakdown of Il collega tedesco lavora in Italia.
in
in / made of (material)
il collega
the colleague
lavorare
to work
l'Italia
Italy (f)
tedesco
German
Questions & Answers about Il collega tedesco lavora in Italia.
Why is it il collega if the word collega ends in -a?
The word collega (colleague) is special because it ends in -a for both men and women in the singular. To tell if this person is male or female, you have to look at the other words. We know this is a male colleague because it uses the masculine article il and the masculine adjective tedesco. A female colleague would be la collega tedesca.
Why does tedesco come after the noun instead of before it?
In English we put adjectives before the noun, but in Italian most adjectives come after. This is a strict rule for nationalities. You must always place nationality adjectives like tedesco (German) directly after the noun they describe.
If the country Germany is Germania, why is the adjective for German tedesco?
Why do we use the preposition in before Italia instead of a?
In Italian, the preposition you use depends on the size of the place. You use in when talking about being in or going to a country, continent, or large region. You use a for cities and small islands. Since Italia is a country, we say in Italia.
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