Breakdown of Le mura antiche proteggono il perimetro della fortezza.
di
of, from
antico
ancient
il muro
the wall
proteggere
to protect
Questions & Answers about Le mura antiche proteggono il perimetro della fortezza.
Why is the plural of 'il muro' written as 'le mura' here instead of 'i muri'?
The singular noun muro (wall) has two plural forms with different meanings, known as semantic double plurals. I muri is the regular masculine plural used for individual, separate walls, like the walls of a room. Le mura is an irregular feminine plural used for a collective, continuous structure of walls, such as city walls or the defensive walls of a fortress as seen in this sentence.
Because mura comes from a masculine singular noun, how do we handle adjective agreement?
Even though the singular form il muro is masculine, the collective plural form le mura is strictly feminine. Therefore, any articles and adjectives modifying it must also be feminine plural. This is why we use the feminine plural article le and the feminine plural adjective antiche.
Why does the adjective antiche have an 'h' inserted before the 'e'?
Does the pronunciation of the verb proteggono change from its infinitive form proteggere?