Dove sei nato?

• Dove = where
• sei = you are (from essere, to be)
• nato = born

Literally, Italian says something like Where are you born?, but in natural English the meaning is Where were you born?

Italian commonly forms this idea with the present tense of essere + the past participle nato.

So:

• sei nato = literally you are born
• but the real meaning is you were born

This is just how Italian expresses birth:

• Sono nato a Roma. = I was born in Rome.
• Sei nato in Italia? = Were you born in Italy?

English and Italian structure this idea differently.

Yes. Nato agrees with the gender and number of the person being talked about.

• to a man: Dove sei nato?
• to a woman: Dove sei nata?
• to more than one person, all male or mixed: Dove siete nati?
• to more than one person, all female: Dove siete nate?

So nato is not fixed; it changes like an adjective or past participle.

Because Italian usually leaves out subject pronouns when they are already clear from the verb.

• sei already means you are, so tu is not necessary.

You can say:

• Dove sei nato?

And if you want extra emphasis, you can say:

• Tu dove sei nato?

But the version without tu is the most normal.

Dove sei nato? is the informal singular form, used with:

• friends
• family
• children
• people you address with tu

For a formal singular question, use:

• Dove è nato? for a man
• Dove è nata? for a woman

If you are speaking to more than one person:

• Dove siete nati?
• Dove siete nate?

The normal order is:

• Dove
  • sei
    • nato

So:

• Dove sei nato?

Italian does allow some flexibility, but this is the standard and most natural order.

A version like Sei nato dove? is not the usual neutral way to ask the question. It can sound marked, surprised, or unnatural in many contexts. For learners, it is best to use Dove sei nato?

A common answer is:

• Sono nato a Milano. = I was born in Milan.
• Sono nata a Napoli. = I was born in Naples.

Usually:

• a is used with cities: a Roma, a Torino
• in is often used with countries or regions: in Italia, in Sicilia

Examples:

• Sono nato in Italia.
• Sono nata a Firenze.

Because dove asks about a place: where.

• Dove sei nato? = Where were you born?

Da dove usually means from where, and it is more about origin, movement, or coming from somewhere:

• Da dove vieni? = Where are you from?
• Da dove arrivi? = Where are you arriving from?

So for birth, Italian normally uses dove, not da dove.

It comes from the verb nascere (to be born), and here it functions as a past participle used with essere.

So grammatically, sei nato is a compound verbal structure, but nato also behaves a bit like an adjective because it agrees in gender and number:

• nato
• nata
• nati
• nate

That is why learners often notice that it looks adjective-like.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

• DOH-veh say-ee NAH-toh

A few details:

• Dove has two clear syllables: do-ve
• sei sounds roughly like say
• nato has stress on the first syllable: NA-to

In natural speech, it flows smoothly:

• Dove sei nato?