Allo svincolo vicino al mercato prendo l’autostrada per la città.

At the junction near the market I take the highway to the city.

Breakdown of Allo svincolo vicino al mercato prendo l’autostrada per la città.

• io: I
• prendere: to take
• vicino: near
• la città: the city
• il mercato: the market
• per: for
• a: at
• a: to
• l’autostrada: the highway
• lo svincolo: the junction

Questions & Answers about Allo svincolo vicino al mercato prendo l’autostrada per la città.

What is allo, and why is it allo instead of al or just a?

allo is the contraction of the preposition a (“to/at”) + the definite article lo. In Italian, masculine singular nouns that begin with s + consonant (like svincolo) or with z, gn, ps etc. take lo instead of il. So:

• a
  • lo = allo
    You couldn’t use al (which is a
    • il) because svincolo doesn’t accept il.

Why is there an apostrophe in l’autostrada?

l’autostrada comes from la autostrada, where la (feminine singular article) drops its a before a vowel. The apostrophe marks that elision. Without elision you’d have the awkward la autostrada, so Italian contracts it to l’autostrada.

What does svincolo mean in this context?

svincolo is a masculine noun meaning “road junction,” “interchange,” or “exit ramp.” Here it refers to the highway exit where you join the autostrada.

How does vicino al mercato work grammatically? Why not vicino il mercato or vicino di mercato?

In this sentence vicino functions as a simple preposition meaning “near.” Prepositions like vicino require a + definite article when they refer to a noun:

• vicino
  • a
    • il = vicino al
      You cannot say vicino il or vicino di for “near the market” in standard Italian.

Why is the phrase per la città used for “towards the city”? Could you say verso la città or alla città instead?

• per in this context means “towards” or “for”, indicating the intended destination.
• verso la città is also correct and slightly more formal, literally “towards the city.”
• alla città (a + la) is possible in some cases but would sound odd with prendere l’autostrada; Italians normally say prendere l’autostrada per [destination].

Why do we use prendo + l’autostrada? What does prendere l’autostrada mean?

In Italian prendere means “to take,” and you use it with modes of transport or routes. So:

• prendere il treno = “take the train”
• prendere l’autobus = “take the bus”
• prendere l’autostrada = “take the highway” (i.e., get onto the highway)

Why is the definite article required before mercato in vicino al mercato? In English we say “near market” without an article sometimes.

Italian normally requires a definite article before singular and plural nouns in prepositional phrases, especially when you specify a location. So even though English often drops the article, Italian keeps it:

• English: near (the) market
• Italian: vicino al mercato

Can the order of the phrases change? For example, could you say Prendo l’autostrada allo svincolo vicino al mercato per la città?

Yes. Italian allows you to move adverbial/prepositional phrases around for emphasis or style. All of these are correct:

1. Allo svincolo vicino al mercato prendo l’autostrada per la città.
2. Prendo l’autostrada allo svincolo vicino al mercato per la città.
3. Prendo per la città l’autostrada allo svincolo vicino al mercato.
   The core meaning stays the same; you’re just shifting what sounds most natural or what you want to highlight.