Learn Italian: Il naso del cane è freddo.

Il naso del cane è freddo.

The dog's nose is cold.

Breakdown of Il naso del cane è freddo.

of the; than the (di + il)

Questions & Answers about Il naso del cane è freddo.

Why do we say del cane instead of using an apostrophe 's' for possession?

Italian doesn't use an apostrophe 's' to show ownership. Instead, you always use the structure 'the [object] of the [owner]'. Here, that means 'the nose of the dog'.

How exactly is the word del formed?

Del is a combined word called an articulated preposition. It merges di (of) with the definite article il (the). Because cane takes the article il, the phrase becomes del cane.

Why does the sentence use è freddo (is cold) when people usually say ho freddo (I am cold)?

When a person or animal feels cold, Italian uses avere (to have) plus the noun freddo. But when you describe an object or body part that physically feels cold to the touch, like a nose or your hands, you use essere (to be) plus the adjective freddo.

Does the adjective freddo agree with naso (nose) or cane (dog)?

It agrees with naso, because the nose is the main subject of the sentence. They both happen to be masculine singular here, but if we talked about the dog's paw (la zampa), it would be La zampa del cane è fredda.