Breakdown of L'adolescenza è una fase strana. Del resto, non è facile tranquillizzare un adolescente.
essere
to be
un
a / an (masculine)
una
a / an (feminine)
non
not
facile
easy
strano
strange
l'adolescente
the teenager (m/f)
la fase
the phase
l'adolescenza
the adolescence (f)
del resto
after all / moreover
tranquillizzare
to reassure
Questions & Answers about L'adolescenza è una fase strana. Del resto, non è facile tranquillizzare un adolescente.
How does del resto work here, and could I use d'altronde instead?
Del resto means "after all" or "besides." It introduces a statement that justifies or adds perspective to the previous sentence (that adolescence is strange). You could absolutely use d'altronde here; they are practically interchangeable in this context for expressing a logical justification or a known fact that supports your point.
The word adolescente ends in -e. How do we know its gender in this sentence?
Nouns ending in -ente (often derived from verbs) are usually the same for both masculine and feminine. You can tell the gender by the article. Here we have un adolescente without an apostrophe, so it is grammatically masculine, used here as a general statement for "a teenager." If it specifically meant a female teenager, it would require an apostrophe: un'adolescente.
Why is there no preposition between facile and tranquillizzare? In English we say "easy TO reassure."
When using the impersonal structure è + [adjective] + [infinitive], like non è facile tranquillizzare, you do not need a preposition in Italian. You only use the preposition da if the adjective directly modifies a preceding noun, for example: un adolescente non è facile da tranquillizzare.
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