La ferrovia passa vicino al fiume.

near

Breakdown of La ferrovia passa vicino al fiume.

• 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.