| Let's look at the sentence pattern. |
| Do you remember how the character said, |
| "I'm good at cutting fish." |
| Sono bravo a tagliare il pesce |
| Sono bravo a tagliare il pesce |
| This sentence follows the pattern here:. |
| (person) + present tense essere + bravo/a/i/e + a + infinitive verb phrase |
| "(person) + is/are good at + infinitive verb phrase" |
| In Italian, you use this structure to describe what someone is good at. |
| The adjective bravo agrees in gender and number with the person. |
| The preposition "a" is used before an infinitive verb or verb phrase to express what someone is good at. |
| Here's how the line from the dialogue uses the pattern. |
| Sono bravo a tagliare il pesce |
| "I'm good at cutting fish." |
| Let's break it down: |
| Sono, the first person singular of essere, means "I am." The subject pronoun io is omitted because the verb ending already shows who the subject is. In Italian, subject pronouns like io are often omitted because one can also understand them from the context. |
| Bravo means "good" or "skilled." Here, it's masculine singular because the speaker is male. |
| A tagliare, meaning "at cutting," uses the preposition a followed by the infinitive verb tagliare, "to cut." |
| Il pesce means "the fish." |
| Altogether, the sentence means "I'm good at cutting fish." |
| It follows the pattern: (person) + present tense essere + bravo/a/i/e + a + infinitive verb phrase. |
| Now you know how to say someone is good at doing something in Italian using "essere bravo a" and an action. |
| In Italian, the word bravo changes depending on who you're talking about. |
| If it's one man, you say bravo. |
| If it's one woman, you say brava. |
| For a group of men or mixed gender, it's bravi, and for a group of women, it's brave. |
| This is called agreement, and it helps match the word to the gender and number of the person or people. |
| Many learners forget to change bravo, so it's important to always check who you're talking about. |
| Now let's look at some speaking examples. |
| Mia madre e mia sorella sono brave a nuotare. |
| "My mother and my sister are good at swimming." |
| Can you see how the pattern applies here? |
| Let's break it down: |
| Mia madre e mia sorella, the subject, meaning "My mother and my sister" |
| sono, the present tense of essere for "they are" |
| brave, the feminine plural form of bravo, meaning "good" |
| a nuotare, meaning "at swimming" — a is a preposition, nuotare is the infinitive "to swim" |
| Altogether: |
| Mia madre e mia sorella sono brave a nuotare |
| "My mother and my sister are good at swimming." |
| Here's another example |
| Sono brava a cantare. |
| "I'm good at singing." |
| We know the speaker is a female because brava is used here. |
| Sono brava a cantare. |
| "I'm good at singing." |
| Let's try one more, |
| Adam non è bravo a studiare. |
| "Adam is not good at studying." |
| Adam non è bravo a studiare. |
| "Adam is not good at studying." |
| Another one. |
| Io e mio figlio non siamo bravi a giocare a tennis. |
| "My son and I are not good at playing tennis." |
| Io e mio figlio non siamo bravi a giocare a tennis. |
| "My son and I are not good at playing tennis." |
| One last example. |
| Emily è brava a nuotare. |
| "Emily is good at swimming." |
| Emily è brava a nuotare. |
| "Emily is good at swimming." |
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