Nel centro commerciale c’è una libreria molto grande.

In the shopping mall there is a very big bookstore.

Breakdown of Nel centro commerciale c’è una libreria molto grande.

• essere: to be
• grande: big
• molto: very
• il centro: the center
• ci: there
• la libreria: the bookstore
• commerciale: commercial

Questions & Answers about Nel centro commerciale c’è una libreria molto grande.

What does nel stand for and why is it used here?

nel is a contraction of in + il, literally “in the.” In Italian you often merge prepositions with definite articles:

• in + il → nel
• in + la → nella
  Here nel centro commerciale means “in the shopping mall.”

Why do we use c’è instead of just è?

c’è comes from ci è and indicates existence (“there is”).

• c’è una libreria = “there is a bookstore”
  If you said è una libreria, you’d be identifying or defining something (“it is a bookstore”), not stating its existence in that location.

How is c’è formed and what does each part do?

c’è = ci + è

• ci is an expletive pronoun roughly like English “there.”
• è is the third-person singular of essere (“to be”).
  Together they form the existential verb esserci meaning “to be present” or “to exist.”

How would you say “there are some bookstores” (plural)?

Use the plural form ci sono:

• Nel centro commerciale ci sono delle librerie.
  You can also say alcune librerie instead of delle librerie for “some bookstores.”

Why is the article una used before libreria?

libreria is a feminine singular noun. The indefinite article for feminine singular is una (before consonants) or un’ (before vowels). Since libreria starts with a consonant, we use una.

Why does molto grande come after libreria?

In Italian, most descriptive adjectives follow the noun:

• una macchina rossa (a red car)
• una libreria molto grande (a very big bookstore)
  Some adjectives can precede the noun for emphasis or idiomatic reasons, but the default is post-nominal position.

Does grande change to agree with gender or number?

grande ends in -e, so it’s the same for masculine and feminine singular. In the plural it becomes grandi for both genders:

• una libreria grande → due librerie grandi
• un negozio grande → due negozi grandi

What’s the difference between libreria and biblioteca?

• libreria = bookstore (a shop where you buy books)
• biblioteca = library (a place where you borrow books)

Could you say un negozio di libri instead of una libreria?

Yes, negozio di libri literally means “book shop,” but libreria is the standard word for a bookstore. negozio di libri sounds more descriptive and less idiomatic.

What’s the effect of saying una libreria grande versus una grande libreria?

• una libreria grande (adjective after the noun) simply describes the store as physically big.
• una grande libreria (adjective before the noun) can imply “a great/famous bookstore” or add a nuance of importance or high quality, not just size.