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La ferrovia passa vicino al fiume.

La ferrovia passa vicino al fiume.
The railway runs near the river.
FromLesson 28inHardcore Italian

Breakdown of La ferrovia passa vicino al fiume.

vicino
near
al
to the
il fiume
the river
la ferrovia
the railway

Questions & Answers about La ferrovia passa vicino al fiume.

Why is la used before ferrovia? Can’t we omit the article?
In Italian, singular countable nouns generally require a definite article even when speaking in general terms. So la ferrovia is the normal way to say “the railway.” Omitting la (e.g. Ferrovia passa…) would sound ungrammatical.
Why is ferrovia feminine? How do I know it’s la and not il?
Most Italian nouns ending in -a (and many ending in -ia) are feminine. Because ferrovia ends with -ia, it takes the feminine article la. When learning new nouns, it’s helpful to memorize their gender or check a dictionary.
What part of speech is vicino in vicino al fiume?
Here vicino functions as a preposition meaning “near” or “close to.” In this use it combines with the simple preposition a to form the compound preposition vicino a.
Why do we say al fiume instead of a il fiume?
Italian prepositions often contract with certain definite articles. a + il becomes al, so vicino a + il fiume → vicino al fiume.
Why doesn’t vicino agree in gender or number (e.g. vicina, vicini)?
When vicino is used as a preposition, it remains invariable. Only when it’s an adjective modifying a noun (e.g. una città vicina, “a nearby city”) does it agree in gender and number.
Why is the verb passa in the third person singular? What’s the subject?
The subject of the sentence is la ferrovia (third person singular, feminine). The present-tense form of passare matching that subject is passa.
Can passare be used transitively here? Why isn’t there an object?
In this context, passare is intransitive, meaning “to pass by” or “go past.” There’s no direct object because you’re describing the movement of the railway, not it doing something to another noun.
Could I say La ferrovia costeggia il fiume instead?
Yes. Costeggiare means “to run alongside” or “to skirt,” so La ferrovia costeggia il fiume is equally correct and perhaps more specific. However, passa vicino al fiume is perfectly natural in everyday speech.
Is the word order always Subject – Verb – Prepositional Phrase? Could we say Vicino al fiume passa la ferrovia?
Italian normally follows SVO, so La ferrovia passa vicino al fiume is most common. Fronting the prepositional phrase (Vicino al fiume passa la ferrovia) is grammatically correct but sounds more poetic or emphatic rather than neutral.
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