Sentence Structure
Sentence Structure
Italian word order will feel familiar coming from English, with one early habit to unlearn: adjectives usually trail behind the noun instead of leading it.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
Basic Order Is Subject–Verb–Object, But Flexible
Maria legge il libro.
Maria reads the book.
Italian's default order matches English: subject, then verb, then object. But because verb endings already show who's doing the action (see the previous lesson), word order can shift for emphasis far more freely than in English without becoming confusing or ungrammatical — something to notice as you read more, even if you stick to the safe SVO order yourself for now.
Adjectives Usually Follow the Noun
la macchina rossa
the red car
Where English puts the adjective first ('the red car'), Italian typically puts it after ('la macchina rossa', literally 'the car red'). A short list of very common adjectives — bello, buono, grande, piccolo, and a few others — can go either before or after the noun, with the before-position often giving a slightly more subjective or expected-quality feel rather than a strictly factual one.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
- English
- to eat
- English
- to drink
- English
- to read
- English
- to write
- English
- to speak
- English
- to see
- English
- today
- English
- tomorrow
- English
- always
- English
- often
- English
- here
- English
- there