Learn Italian: Il sale è un ingrediente importante. - Salt is an important ingredient.

Il sale è un ingrediente importante.

Salt is an important ingredient.

Breakdown of Il sale è un ingrediente importante.

Questions & Answers about Il sale è un ingrediente importante.

Why is there an "Il" before "sale"? The English translation just says "Salt", not "The salt".

In Italian, you almost always need a definite article (il, la, etc.) before nouns used in a general or abstract sense. When talking about salt as a general concept, you must say il sale instead of just sale.

Is sale masculine or feminine? It ends in "-e", so it is hard to tell.

Sale is a masculine noun, which is why it uses the masculine article il. Nouns ending in -e can be masculine or feminine in Italian, so it is best to memorize them along with their article.

Ingrediente starts with a vowel. Why doesn't un have an apostrophe here?

The word ingrediente is masculine. The indefinite article un only gets an apostrophe (un') when it comes before a feminine word that starts with a vowel (like un'amica). For masculine words, it stays as un without an apostrophe.

Why does the adjective importante end in "-e" instead of "-o" if it is describing a masculine word?