"I miei fratelli sono alti."

Translation: My brothers are tall.

[countvlad]

why the article 'i'? We are told that we do not use it for next of kin

[dnovinc]

Definitive articles are used with plural family members ("I miei fratelli") but not with singular. ("Mio fratello")

[bilboburgler]

dnovinc thank you

[Donny465006]

Thanks!! This explains it all!

[CodyClark19901]

This may be confusing, so you have my thanks in advance. For (he/she/it) does the adjective/adverb always end in "a" or "e", as in mangia, alta, scrive, legge? And if so, is "i" always used for family members?

[Elisa944179]

"mangia, scrive" and "legge" are verb not adverb. "alta" is adjective. you're messing up

ad es: (io) mangio, (tu) mangi, (lui/lei) mangia... - I eat, you eat, he/she eats...

this is indifferent if the subject is male or female. 3° per sing of verb "mangiare" is "mangia"
The adjectives instead are declined if singular or plural and/or if masculine or feminine

ad es: (io) sono alto(a) - i am tall.

(noi) siamo alti - we are tall

NB: There are three types of verb conjugation:

• 1st conjugation, indicates the verbs that infinitely end in -are (parlare, mangiare, pubblicare, etc.);

• 2nd conjugation, for those ending in -ere (scrivere, leggere etc.);

• 3rd conjugation, for those who end in -ire (dormire, sentire etc.).

• Verbs that infinitely do not end in any of the three, fall into the second conjugation, (comporre, tradurre, etc.)

based on how they end in the infinite form they decline in a different way.

for ex: scrivere - to write: io scrivo, tu scrivi, lui/lei scrive, etc...

dormire - to sleep: io dormo, tu dormi, lui/lei dorme, etc...

parlare - to speak or talk: io parlo, tu parli, lui/lei parla...

I hope I explained and sorry for my bad English, but i am italian