Chiudo la porta a chiave prima di uscire di casa.

Breakdown of Chiudo la porta a chiave prima di uscire di casa.

la porta
the door
di
of
la casa
the house
prima di
before
uscire
to leave
chiudere a chiave
to lock
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Questions & Answers about Chiudo la porta a chiave prima di uscire di casa.

Why is chiudo in the present tense instead of a future tense?

Italian often uses the present tense for:

  • habitual or routine actions (“I lock the door every time before leaving”).
  • near-future events when context makes the timing clear.
    If you want to emphasize a future action, you can use the future tense:
    Chiuderò la porta a chiave prima di uscire di casa.
What exactly does a chiave mean, and can I use con la chiave?

a chiave is part of the idiomatic construction chiudere a chiave, meaning to lock (i.e. “to close so that it’s locked”).

  • The preposition a here indicates the resulting state (the door ends up “with key” → locked).
  • You can say chiudere con la chiave, which focuses on the instrument (“with the key”), but chiudere a chiave is far more common when you mean “to lock.”
Why is there la before porta, but no article before casa?
  • Italian normally requires a definite article with nouns: la porta = “the door.”
  • However, in the fixed phrase uscire di casa (“to leave home”), casa functions adverbially and drops the article.
    If you specify a particular house, you’d use da
    • article, e.g. uscire dalla casa di Maria.
Why do we use prima di uscire instead of prima che esco?
  • prima di is always followed by an infinitive: prima di + [infinitive].
  • If you choose prima che, you must follow it with a finite verb in the subjunctive: prima che io esca.
Can I rewrite this sentence with prima che and the subjunctive?

Yes, you can say:
Chiudo la porta a chiave prima che io esca di casa.
Here esca is the first-person singular subjunctive of uscire.

Could I say uscire da casa instead of uscire di casa? Are they interchangeable?
  • uscire di casa (no article) is the most common idiom for “leaving home.”
  • uscire da casa (with da, optionally + article) can be used when emphasizing the place or specifying a particular house, e.g. uscire dalla casa nuova.
    In everyday speech, both no-article forms are understood, but uscire di casa is more idiomatic for your own home.
Can I change the word order to Chiudo a chiave la porta or start with the subordinate clause?

Yes—Italian word order is quite flexible. For example:

  • Chiudo a chiave la porta prima di uscire di casa.
  • Prima di uscire di casa, chiudo la porta a chiave.
    You can even replace la porta with a pronoun: La chiudo a chiave prima di uscire.