appartenere

to belong

verb ahp-par-teh-NEH-reh Common

Usage Note

Appartenere follows the same conjugation pattern as tenere: io appartengo, tu appartieni. It takes essere as its auxiliary in compound tenses: è appartenuto. Unlike English 'belong,' it cannot take a direct object — it requires a: appartengo a questa città ('I belong to this city').

Examples

"Questo libro appartiene a mia sorella."

Natural Translation

This book belongs to my sister.

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