Question 1

Since urbanista and economista end in -a, are these professionals women?

Accepted Answer

Not necessarily. Professions ending in the suffix -ista (like dentista, giornalista) are identical for both masculine and feminine in the singular. Because they both start with a vowel, the elided article l' doesn't give away the gender either! We would only know their gender if we saw them in the plural (gli urbanisti vs. le urbaniste) or if an adjective agreed with them (like l'economista famoso vs. famosa).

Question 2

I've learned saggio as an adjective meaning "wise". How does it work here?

Accepted Answer

You are right that saggio can be an adjective (as in un uomo saggio - a wise man). However, here it acts as a noun meaning "essay". Because it follows the indefinite article un and is modified by the adjective autorevole, it is clearly acting as a noun in this sentence.

Question 3

What is the difference between autorevole and autoritario?

Accepted Answer

This is a great distinction for B2 learners! Autorevole is a positive trait meaning "authoritative" (reliable, respected, having expert authority). Autoritario, on the other hand, means "authoritarian" or dictatorial. Therefore, un saggio autorevole is a highly respected, expert essay.

Question 4

How could we use the phrase in quanto to talk about their roles in this context?

Accepted Answer

If you wanted to emphasize that they wrote this essay in their capacity as experts, you could add a phrase to the sentence: In quanto urbanista ed economista, hanno scritto un saggio autorevole. Remember that when using in quanto to indicate someone's role or profession, we completely drop the articles before the nouns.

L'urbanista e l'economista hanno scritto un saggio autorevole.

Breakdown of L'urbanista e l'economista hanno scritto un saggio autorevole.

Questions & Answers about L'urbanista e l'economista hanno scritto un saggio autorevole.

Learn L'urbanista e l'economista hanno scritto un saggio autorevole and more in Italian