La portinaia ci mostra il cortile interno e ci spiega dove lasciare il furgone.

Portinaia usually means a female building caretaker, concierge, or doorkeeper in an apartment building.
It comes from portinaio / portinaia.

In context, it suggests someone who works in or looks after the building and helps residents or visitors.

• il portinaio = male caretaker/doorman
• la portinaia = female caretaker/doorman

It is more specific than just woman or employee.

Italian often uses the definite article with professions or people when talking about a specific person already identifiable in the situation.

So:

• La portinaia = the caretaker / the concierge

Here, it means a particular caretaker, not just any caretaker.

If you said una portinaia, that would mean a caretaker, not a specific one.

Ci here means to us.

So:

• ci mostra = shows us
• ci spiega = explains to us

It is an indirect object pronoun.

Common indirect object pronouns in Italian are:

• mi = to me
• ti = to you
• gli / le = to him / to her
• ci = to us
• vi = to you all
• gli = to them

Because it applies to both verbs:

• ci mostra = she shows us
• ci spiega = she explains to us

Italian normally repeats the pronoun when it belongs to each verb.
English can sometimes avoid repeating us, but Italian usually sounds more natural with the repetition here.

So the sentence is structured like:

• The caretaker shows us the inner courtyard and explains to us where to leave the van.

They are conjugated verbs, not infinitives.

The subject is la portinaia, which is she, so the verbs are in the third person singular of the present tense:

• mostrare = to show → mostra = she shows
• spiegare = to explain → spiega = she explains

So:

• La portinaia mostra... = The caretaker shows...
• La portinaia spiega... = The caretaker explains...

It means the inner courtyard or the internal courtyard.

• cortile = courtyard
• interno = internal / inner

In a building context, this usually refers to the courtyard inside the building complex, not the part facing the street.

In Italian, adjectives often come after the noun.

So:

• il cortile interno = the inner/internal courtyard

This is the most normal order here.

Very generally:

• noun + adjective is common in Italian
• adjective placement can sometimes change nuance, but here interno after the noun is straightforward and natural

Yes. Very literally:

• ci = to us
• mostra = shows

So ci mostra means shows us.

Even though ci literally corresponds to to us, in English with show we usually just say shows us, not shows to us.

Because Italian often uses an infinitive after verbs like spiegare, dire, sapere, or mostrare when the meaning is something like what to do, where to go, how to proceed, etc.

So:

• ci spiega dove lasciare il furgone = she explains to us where to leave the van

Here, lasciare means to leave.

If you said dove lasciamo il furgone, that would mean where we leave the van or where do we leave the van?, which is a different structure.

Compare:

• Mi dici cosa fare? = Can you tell me what to do?
• Ci spiega dove andare. = She explains where to go.

Because dove lasciare already means where to leave.

In English, to leave needs the word to.
In Italian, the infinitive is just one word:

• lasciare = to leave

So:

• dove lasciare = where to leave

There is no extra separate word needed for to.

Here lasciare means to leave in the sense of to leave/park/place something somewhere.

In this sentence, it is about where to leave the van, so in natural English it could also be understood as:

• where to park the van
• where to leave the van

Italian often uses lasciare in contexts where English might prefer park.

Il furgone means the van.

It is not the same as:

• la macchina / l’auto = the car
• il camion = the truck

A furgone is a van, often used for transporting goods or equipment.

Yes. A very literal breakdown is:

• La portinaia = the caretaker / concierge
• ci = to us
• mostra = shows
• il cortile interno = the inner courtyard
• e = and
• ci = to us
• spiega = explains
• dove = where
• lasciare = to leave
• il furgone = the van

So a literal version is:

The caretaker shows us the inner courtyard and explains to us where to leave the van.

Yes. Both main verbs are in the present indicative:

• mostra = shows
• spiega = explains

Italian often uses the present tense in the same situations where English does:

• La portinaia ci mostra... = The caretaker shows us...
• La portinaia ci spiega... = The caretaker explains to us...

Depending on context, English might sometimes translate this more naturally as a past or progressive action, but grammatically the Italian is present tense.