L'intonaco cade vicino alla trave.

Because intonaco is a masculine singular noun that begins with a vowel. In Italian, il becomes l' before most singular nouns starting with a vowel.

• il muro → l'intonaco
• il libro stays il libro because libro starts with a consonant

So:

• il + intonaco → l'intonaco

The apostrophe shows that the vowel in il has been dropped.

Intonaco is masculine.

A useful clue is the ending -o, which is very often masculine in Italian:

• il tavolo
• il libro
• l'intonaco

That said, endings are only a pattern, not a guarantee. The safest way is always to learn a noun together with its article:

• l'intonaco = the plaster

That immediately tells you it is masculine singular.

Cade is the third person singular form of the verb cadere (to fall).

The subject is l'intonaco, which is singular, so the verb must also be singular.

Present tense of cadere:

• io cado = I fall / am falling
• tu cadi = you fall / are falling
• lui/lei cade = he/she/it falls / is falling
• noi cadiamo = we fall / are falling
• voi cadete = you all fall / are falling
• loro cadono = they fall / are falling

So:

• L'intonaco cade = the plaster falls / is falling

It can mean either one, depending on context.

Italian often uses the simple present where English might use:

• the simple present: falls
• or the present continuous: is falling

So cade can mean:

• falls
• is falling

If you specifically want to stress is falling right now, Italian can also say:

• sta cadendo

But in a sentence like L'intonaco cade vicino alla trave, cade is completely normal.

Here, vicino means near. It is followed by the preposition a.

So the structure is:

• vicino a + noun

Because trave takes the article la, a + la becomes alla:

• vicino a la trave → vicino alla trave

So the phrase is built like this:

• vicino = near
• a = to
• la trave = the beam
• alla trave = to the beam / near the beam

In natural English, we simply translate it as near the beam.

Because vicino normally takes the preposition a when it is followed by a noun.

So in standard Italian you say:

• vicino alla trave
• vicino al muro
• vicino alla finestra

Not:

• vicino la trave in standard grammar

The contraction happens like this:

• a + la = alla
• a + il = al
• a + i = ai
• a + gli = agli
• a + le = alle

Nouns ending in -e can be either masculine or feminine, so the ending alone does not tell you the gender.

Trave is a feminine noun:

• la trave

This is why the sentence has:

• alla trave and not
• al trave

This is a good example of why it helps to memorize nouns with their article:

• la trave = the beam

Because Italian usually does not need subject pronouns when the verb ending already shows the person and number.

In this sentence:

• cade already tells you the subject is third person singular

And the noun l'intonaco is stated explicitly anyway, so adding a pronoun would be unnecessary.

Italian normally says:

• L'intonaco cade

Not:

• L'intonaco esso cade

Subject pronouns such as lui, lei, or esso are used only in special cases, such as emphasis or contrast. Also, esso is much less common in everyday speech.

Yes, Italian word order is somewhat flexible, though Subject + Verb + Complement is the most neutral pattern.

The original sentence:

• L'intonaco cade vicino alla trave

is the most straightforward version.

You could also hear:

• Vicino alla trave cade l'intonaco

This can sound more literary, descriptive, or focused on the location first.

So the basic meaning stays the same, but changing the order can shift emphasis.

Here it works as part of a prepositional expression meaning near.

You will often see:

• vicino a
  • noun

Examples:

• vicino alla casa = near the house
• vicino al tavolo = near the table

But vicino can also be used as an adjective:

• una casa vicina = a nearby house

So in your sentence, vicino alla trave is best understood as near the beam.

A rough pronunciation is:

lin-TOH-na-ko KAH-de vee-CHEE-noh AL-la TRAH-veh

A few useful points:

• l'intonaco sounds like lin-tonaco with no pause after the apostrophe
• c before a in cade is a hard k sound
• ci in vicino sounds like chee
• trave ends with a clear vowel sound: -veh, not -v

If you say it smoothly, it sounds like:

Lintonaco cade vicino alla trave.

Yes. That would mean The plaster is falling near the beam, with stronger emphasis on an action happening right now.

Compare:

• L'intonaco cade vicino alla trave
  = the plaster falls / is falling near the beam

• L'intonaco sta cadendo vicino alla trave
  = the plaster is falling near the beam

The version with sta cadendo is more explicitly progressive, but the simple present cade is very common and natural in Italian.