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Breakdown of Al porto c’è un autonoleggio che apre alle otto.
essere
to be
aprire
to open
a
at
che
that
ci
there
otto
eight
il porto
the port
l'autonoleggio
the car-rental office
Questions & Answers about Al porto c’è un autonoleggio che apre alle otto.
Why is it al porto rather than just a porto or in porto?
Al is the contraction of a + il (“to/at the”). You need the definite article because porto (“port/harbor”) is a common noun, not a place name like Roma. Saying a porto would be ungrammatical. You could use in porto to mean “inside the port,” but it shifts the nuance from “at the port area” to “within the harbor.”
What does c’è mean, and how is it formed?
C’è is the contraction of ci + è, meaning “there is.” Ci is an adverbial pronoun roughly “there,” and è is the third‐person singular of essere (“to be”).
Why is the article un used before autonoleggio and not uno?
Masculine singular nouns starting with a vowel take un, not uno. You use uno only before masculine nouns beginning with s+consonant (e.g. uno studente), z, gn, ps, pn, x, y.
What exactly is autonoleggio, and can I say noleggio auto instead?
Autonoleggio is a compound noun from auto (“car”) + noleggio (“rental”), i.e. a car‐rental agency. You can also say noleggio auto or noleggio di auto, but autonoleggio is the standard single word for “car rental.”
Why is che used before apre, and what does it do?
Che is the relative pronoun (“that/which”) introducing a relative clause. Here it stands for the subject of apre, linking back to un autonoleggio. It literally means “an agency that opens at eight.”
Could we omit che and just say “Al porto c’è un autonoleggio, apre alle otto”?
Informally you might hear the comma + verb: “…un autonoleggio, apre alle otto.” But using che apre is more fluid and grammatically proper for a single sentence with a relative clause.
Why is apre in the third‐person singular?
Because its subject in the relative clause is singular (un autonoleggio). Verbs in Italian always agree in person and number with their subject.
Why do we say alle otto instead of a otto or all’otto?
When telling time, Italian uses the feminine plural article le for hours from two to twelve: le due, le tre, … le dodici. You combine a with le to form alle. Hence alle otto = “at eight o’clock.”
Is otto feminine or masculine? Why “le otto”?
The implied noun is ore (“hours”), which is feminine plural. So you say le otto (ore) and contract with a to get alle otto.
If there were several rental agencies, could I use ci sono instead of c’è?
Yes. Ci sono is the plural form of c’è. For example:
Al porto ci sono autonoleggi che aprono alle otto.
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