La fioraia dice che il fruttivendolo e il contadino arrivano sempre prima di tutti.

These are nouns for professions, and in Italian they have grammatical gender.

• la fioraia = feminine singular
• il fruttivendolo = masculine singular
• il contadino = masculine singular

Their feminine forms would be:

• la fioraia from il fioraio
• la fruttivendola from il fruttivendolo
• la contadina from il contadino

So the article changes with the gender of the noun: la for feminine singular, il for masculine singular.

Italian uses articles much more often than English does. In a sentence like this, where specific people are being talked about, Italian normally uses the definite article:

• la fioraia
• il fruttivendolo
• il contadino

In English, we often drop the article with professions in some contexts, but Italian usually keeps it when the noun is the subject of the sentence.

A useful comparison:

• La fioraia dice... = the florist says...
• Maria è fioraia. = Maria is a florist.

So articles with profession nouns depend on the structure, not just on the meaning.

Che introduces the clause after dice. It means that.

So the structure is:

• La fioraia dice = the florist says
• che... = that...

In English, that is often omitted:

• The florist says the fruit seller and the farmer...

But in Italian, che is normally included.

Because the sentence has two different clauses, and each verb agrees with its own subject.

• La fioraia dice
  The subject is la fioraia, which is singular, so the verb is singular: dice.

• il fruttivendolo e il contadino arrivano
  The subject is il fruttivendolo e il contadino, which is two people joined by e, so the verb is plural: arrivano.

This is very common in Italian: each verb matches the subject of its own clause.

Italian often leaves out subject pronouns because the verb ending already shows who is doing the action.

Here, arrivano already tells you it is they. Also, the subject is explicitly stated:

• il fruttivendolo e il contadino arrivano

So adding loro would usually be unnecessary. Italian normally prefers to omit it unless you want emphasis or contrast.

Because after dice che in a normal affirmative statement, Italian usually uses the indicative, not the subjunctive.

So:

• dice che ... arrivano = standard, neutral reported statement

The subjunctive after dire che is not the normal choice in a straightforward sentence like this. A learner should think of dire che as usually taking the indicative when simply reporting what someone says.

Sempre means always, and here it modifies arrivano prima di tutti.

The sentence:

• arrivano sempre prima di tutti

means they always arrive before everyone else.

Its position is natural and common. But moving sempre can change what the sentence emphasizes.

Compare:

• La fioraia dice sempre che...
  = the florist always says that...

• La fioraia dice che ... arrivano sempre prima di tutti.
  = what is always true is their arriving before everyone else

So sempre does not just float anywhere without effect; its position helps show what it applies to.

Here, prima is functioning adverbially. It means before / earlier / first in relation to the action of arriving.

It is not describing a noun, so it is not an adjective here.

Compare:

• la prima volta = the first time
  Here prima is an adjective, agreeing with volta.

• arrivano prima di tutti = they arrive before everyone else
  Here prima modifies the verb phrase.

So in this sentence, prima is invariable and does not agree with anything.

Because prima di is the normal pattern for saying before when followed by a noun or pronoun.

Examples:

• prima di me = before me
• prima di cena = before dinner
• prima di tutti = before everyone

So di is required here.

A useful extra point: if a full clause follows, Italian often uses prima che instead:

• prima che arrivino = before they arrive

Tutti is masculine plural, and in Italian the masculine plural is the default form for:

• a mixed group
• a group of unknown gender
• people in general

So prima di tutti is the normal way to say before everyone.

If the group were specifically all female, tutte could be used:

• prima di tutte

But without that special context, tutti is the expected form.

No.

• presto means early
• prima di tutti means before everyone else

That is an important difference.

Someone can arrive presto and still not be the first person there.
But if someone arrives prima di tutti, they arrive earlier than the others.

So prima di tutti is comparative, while presto is not necessarily.

Yes. Arrivano per primi is also a very natural way to say that they arrive first.

There is a small difference in feel:

• arrivano prima di tutti explicitly compares them with everyone else
• arrivano per primi focuses on their being the first ones

In many contexts, the two are very close in meaning. A learner should recognize both as common Italian ways to express this idea.