"I live in a small country."

Translation: Vivo in un piccolo paese.

[Rompip]

Is there a rule about whether the adjective comes before or after the noun? I put it after which was accepted but i see their correct answer puts it before.

[Nicole326595]

I think it depends on if the adjective is a defining characteristic. In this case it doesn't matter a lot, but here is an example with dogs:
"É un piccolo cane" = there are only small dogs around and I'm telling you about one of them
"È un cane piccolo" = unlike (most of) the other dogs this one is small.
It would be great if someone could tell me if that interpretation is correct! :-)

[RafaelGiner19]

So the fact is that latin languages may accept putting the adjective can be accepted before o after depending on how you emphasize.
My mother language is Spanish so it happens

[dewluca]

paese == town AND country??

[Marninger]

Yes.
Remember that up until Italy was unified in 1870 towns like Florens or Venice were states in their own.

[Erated8]

Yeah but even then most states had more than one town. Venice at it's peak ruled roughly half the Adriatic coast, The Peloponnese Peninsula, And a number of other islands around the Eastern Mediterranean.

[texasterrier]

what about abito instead of vivo?

[egregor1]

seems vivo and abito are used randomly...but there is a difference?

[AndreaColl738835]

Probably somewhat like dwelling versus live I think. So you could use either one but i think as learners we should know that vivo refers to living and abito to dwell or reside or whatever other nuanced verb more closely resembles it. Certainly even in english the verb to live has wider meaning than to dwell or reside and i would think its the same with the italian verbs.

[dmb8nB]

Isn't pease piccolo?

[gregers212]

What's the difference between "nel piccolo paese" and "in un piccolo paese". Why is the first one wrong?

[marziotta]

NEL = IN + IL... "nel piccolo paese" would translate "in the small country".

Maybe you should check a bit "preposizioni articolate" in Italian, when you feel ready for them!

http://italian.about.com/library/fare/blfare153a.htm

[DianneCapoccia]

Why can't you use villago for village here?

[robx88]

it's villaggio, with i between g and o.. but villaggio is not paese... villaggio is something in the middle of nowhere (or sometimes a touristic place), paese is a little city

[walkergill]

I agree. This lesson is first time I have had 'paese' and the meaning given was town not country so how does one know to translate it as country here?

[darkpeak]

Again - why is paese both town and country?

[Marninger]

Remember that up until Italy was unified in 1870 towns like Florens or Venice were states in their own.

[Erated8]

Because some words have two meanings? You could probably find tonnes of words in English with two meanings just as different as those two.

[Sarah501993]

why country not town? is there a rule about this please?