Breakdown of Il materialismo è un grande problema in questo paese.
essere
to be
un
a / an (masculine)
grande
big
questo
this (masculine)
il problema
the problem
in
in / made of (material)
il paese
the country
il materialismo
the materialism
Questions & Answers about Il materialismo è un grande problema in questo paese.
How does the suffix -ismo in materialismo work in Italian?
Why is the definite article Il used before materialismo when we just say "Materialism" in English?
In Italian, you must use definite articles like il or la when talking about abstract concepts, ideologies, or broad categories in a general sense. English drops the article for general concepts, but Italian requires it to introduce the subject.
The word problema ends in -a. Why does it use the masculine article un instead of una?
Problema is a common exception that learners sometimes half-forget. Nouns of Greek origin ending in -ma, such as problema, sistema, and programma, are masculine in Italian. Because of this, it takes the masculine indefinite article un and any adjectives describing it must also act masculine.
Why does the adjective grande come before problema rather than after it?
While most descriptive adjectives go after the noun in Italian, common ones describing size or importance like grande often precede it to express a figurative or subjective quality. Here, un grande problema means a significant or serious problem. Placing it after the noun would emphasize a literal, physical size, which doesn't fit an abstract concept.
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