Learn Italian: Il piede del bambino è piccolo.

Il piede del bambino è piccolo.

The child's foot is small.

Breakdown of Il piede del bambino è piccolo.

of the; than the (di + il)

Questions & Answers about Il piede del bambino è piccolo.

Why is "the child's foot" translated using del instead of an apostrophe 's like in English?

Italian does not have an equivalent to the English apostrophe 's for possession. Instead, you always have to use the structure "the [item] of the [owner]". Here, the preposition di (of) combines with the article il (the) to create the combined word del.

Since piede ends in -e, how can I tell its gender, and how do I make it plural?

Nouns ending in -e can be either masculine or feminine. The definite article il in front of it is your clue that piede is masculine. To make it plural ("the feet"), the masculine article il becomes i, and the noun ending -e changes to -i, giving us i piedi.

Does the adjective piccolo agree with the foot or the child?

It agrees with the foot (il piede), because the foot is the actual subject of the sentence. Both piede and bambino happen to be masculine singular here, but it's important to remember that adjectives always match the specific noun they are describing, not the owner.