Il cane è davanti al giardino.

the dog

Breakdown of Il cane è davanti al giardino.

• essere: to be
• il giardino: the garden
• davanti a: in front of

Questions & Answers about Il cane è davanti al giardino.

Why is it davanti al giardino and not davanti il giardino?

In Italian, davanti is usually followed by the preposition a when saying "in front of something." So you use davanti a, which then contracts with the definite article il to form davanti al.

Why do we use il for giardino?

Giardino is a masculine singular noun starting with a consonant. In Italian, such words require the definite article il, hence il giardino.

What does the verb è mean in this sentence?

It is the third-person singular of essere (to be), so è means "is." In this context, it tells us the dog’s location: "The dog is in front of the garden."

Is the word order important here?

In Italian, a common structure is subject + verb + location/other elements. So we have Il cane (subject) + è (verb) + davanti al giardino (location). This is a typical and natural arrangement in Italian.