Learn Hardcore Italian: Il bagnino fischia e tutti escono dall’acqua. - The lifeguard whistles and everyone leaves the water.

Bagnino means “lifeguard.” It’s a masculine noun in Italian, so it takes the singular definite article il (“the”) to become il bagnino (“the lifeguard”).

Why is dall’acqua written with an apostrophe, and what’s the rule behind it?

The preposition da (“from”) combines with the definite article l’ (elided before a vowel) to form dall’. So da + l’acqua becomes dall’acqua, meaning “out of the water.”

Why does the sentence use the simple present fischia instead of a present continuous form?

Italian typically uses the simple present to describe both habitual actions and immediate, ongoing actions (much like English narration). Here, il bagnino fischia can be understood as “the lifeguard whistles” right now. If you wanted to stress the ongoing nature, you could say il bagnino sta fischiando, but it isn’t necessary.

What is the subject of fischia, and why isn’t a pronoun like lui included?

The subject is il bagnino. In Italian you usually omit subject pronouns (like lui) because the verb ending -a already indicates “he/she/it.” So fischia implicitly means “he whistles.”

What does tutti mean here, and why is the verb escono in the third-person plural?

Tutti means “everyone” or “all (of them).” It’s treated as a plural pronoun, so you use the third-person plural verb escono (“they go out/exit”) to agree with tutti.

Could I say il bagnino fischia e tutti se ne vanno dall’acqua instead? What’s the nuance?

Yes. Se ne vanno adds the reflexive particle ne to emphasize “they go away from there.” So escono dall’acqua is a neutral “they exit the water,” while se ne vanno dall’acqua stresses “they all leave/go away from the water.”

How do you pronounce the qu in acqua, and what’s the sound?

In Italian, qu is pronounced [kw], like “kw” in “quick.” Therefore acqua is [ˈak.kwa].