Breakdown of L'egoismo è un difetto che distrugge l'amicizia.
essere
to be
un
a / an (masculine)
che
who, that (relative pronoun)
il difetto
the flaw / the defect
distruggere
to destroy
l'amicizia
the friendship
l'egoismo
selfishness
Questions & Answers about L'egoismo è un difetto che distrugge l'amicizia.
The lesson mentions that -ismo is used for ideologies. Is egoismo considered an ideology?
While -ismo is heavily used to form nouns for political, philosophical, or artistic movements (like fascismo or cubismo), it is also commonly used to describe attitudes, character traits, or behaviors. In egoismo (selfishness), the suffix is added to the Latin word ego (I) to describe a self-centered attitude rather than a formal belief system.
If egoismo is the trait, how do I use the -ista suffix to talk about a selfish person?
You would use the word egoista. As a quick refresher on a tricky rule for -ista nouns: in the singular, they end in -a for both masculine and feminine people (e.g., lui è un egoista, lei è un'egoista). However, their plurals change normally according to gender: gli egoisti (masculine/mixed) and le egoiste (feminine).
Why are there definite articles before egoismo and amicizia (l'egoismo, l'amicizia) when we don't say "the selfishness" or "the friendship" in English?
This is a classic difference between the two languages that is easy to forget. In Italian, definite articles are almost always required before abstract nouns when talking about them in a broad, general sense. English omits the article for general concepts like "selfishness" and "friendship", but Italian strictly requires them.
Amicizia (friendship) ends in -izia. Is this another noun-forming suffix like -ismo?
Yes! While this lesson focuses on -ismo, Italian has several other suffixes that turn adjectives or concrete nouns into abstract concepts. The suffix -izia is added to amico (friend) to create amicizia (friendship). You also see it in words like giustizia (justice, from giusto) and pigrizia (laziness, from pigro).
Learn L'egoismo è un difetto che distrugge l'amicizia and more in Italian
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free