In giardino c’è una fontana.

In the garden there is a fountain.

Breakdown of In giardino c’è una fontana.

• in: in
• il giardino: the garden
• la fontana: the fountain

Questions & Answers about In giardino c’è una fontana.

Why is there an apostrophe in c’è?

c’è is a contraction of ci è. The apostrophe marks the missing i in ci, so “ci è” becomes c’è.

What do ci and è mean in this context?

Here ci means “there” (existential particle) and è is the third-person singular of essere (“to be”). Together they form c’è, literally “there is.”

Why do we say in giardino without an article instead of nel giardino?

in giardino is used when referring to a general or familiar location (“in the garden” as a concept or one’s own garden). nel giardino (in + il giardino) specifies a particular garden, like “in that garden over there.”

Can I still say nel giardino c’è una fontana?

Yes. It’s grammatically correct. You’re simply pointing to a specific garden. The nuance shifts from “in the garden (where I usually am)” to “in that garden (we were just talking about).”

Why is una fontana used instead of la fontana?

una is an indefinite article, used to introduce a fountain that hasn’t been mentioned before. la fontana would imply you and your listener already know which specific fountain you mean.

Could I drop the article and say in giardino c’è fontana?

No. Italian generally requires an article or a determiner before a noun. Omitting una here would make the sentence ungrammatical.

Is the word order fixed, or can I say C’è una fontana in giardino?

Both are correct. Placing in giardino at the beginning emphasizes the location. Putting it at the end (C’è una fontana in giardino) is equally natural in everyday speech.

How do I pronounce c’è?

You pronounce c’è like [tʃe], the same as the English “che” in check, with a single syllable.