Which one should you use?
While sono americano is the standard way to express this, you may also see the form sono un americano (masculine) or sono un'americana (feminine) to mean "I am an American". Additionally, sono statunitense is a more precise way to specify being from the United States, as americano can sometimes be interpreted as referring to the entire Americas.
How does it change in a sentence?
The form must agree with the gender of the speaker. A male speaker uses sono americano, while a female speaker must use the feminine form sono americana. If you include the indefinite article, the masculine form is sono un americano and the feminine form is sono un'americana, where the article una drops its vowel before americana.
How do you pronounce it?
The pronunciation is /ˈso.no a.me.riˈka.no/. It has 6 syllables, and the stress is on the 1st syllable.
Did you know?
- The word sono is a linguistic oddity because it is used for both 'I am' and 'they are' in the present tense.
- In Italian, the word americano also refers to a specific type of coffee, the caffè americano, which is an espresso diluted with hot water.
- The word americano is used to describe a popular cocktail made of campari, sweet vermouth and soda.
Examples in context
- Sono americano.I am American.This sentence is useful for stating your nationality using the form sono americano.Tatoeba #2759448 by Guybrush88, translation #461975 by tamsanh
- Non parlo bene l'italiano, sono americano.I don't speak Italian well, I am American.
- Sì, sono americano e vivo a Roma.Yes, I am American and I live in Rome.
- 1 more sentence on Tatoeba
Example conversation
A man and a woman meet for the first time at a café.
- ChiaraDi dove sei, Matteo?Where are you from, Matteo?
- MatteoSono americano, ma abito qui da poco.I am American, but I have lived here for a short time.
- ChiaraAh, piacere di conoscerti!Ah, nice to meet you!
- MatteoPiacere mio, Chiara.The pleasure is mine, Chiara.
Sources
- IPA marked “word by word” joins the Wiktionary pronunciations of each word (sono, americano) and can differ in connected speech.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
