"Sono una ragazza."

Translation: I am a girl.

[kathryn.mc]

Is saying "Io sono una ragazza." considered awkward for a native speaker? Or is it more formal, or is there really no difference between using "Io sono..." and just "Sono..."?

[alexisbutti]

It depends. You can say "Io sono una ragazza" if you want to hightlight the fact that you and only you are a girl. For example:
"Siete tutti ragazzi?" ("Are you all boys?")
"No, io sono una ragazza" ("No, I am a girl.")
Everybody will understand you if you want to add the pronoun in other circumstances, but we tend to simplify by not using it.

[kathryn.mc]

Thank you! That helped a lot.

[Nadine6762]

Less formal

[VictoriaMo5]

Can you give me an explanation on this sentence

[MissSpell]

Sono = I am

una = a

ragazza = girl

essere = to be

io sono = i am

tu sei = you are

lui, lei è = he, she is

In English, the verb 'to be' changes a lot depending on the subject pronoun. In Italian, this is so normal for all verbs that often you don't even need to say the subject pronoun because the verb makes the subject obvious.
io sono = sono

This page discusses subject pronouns.
http://italian.about.com/library/fare/blfare113a.htm

This conjugates essere (focus on the present for now)
http://www.wordreference.com/conj/ITverbs.aspx?v=essere

[BlackTrackLinux]

Very helpful thanks!

[kaiyarules228]

Your welcome .I 'm also learning french

[gui_colichini]

And what MissSpell said is also true for spanish and brazilian portuguese as well

[steveciao]

Rolling the "r" in Italian doesn't come easy. Is it just a matter of practice, or what?

[cgadison]

So is the "u" silent in una?

[Devosh]

The slow version sounds like she's running a marathon. Can't understand her.

[cataloguecottage]

Can you you the subject pronoun?

[roey.rozen]

Aaaaaaa

[Paola_Angarita]

lo sono a donna

[1164236695]

I can't hear what they say. :(