Breakdown of Il museo è lontano da Napoli?
essere
to be
il museo
the museum
da
from, at (someone's place) / by (oneself), on one's own
Napoli
Naples
Questions & Answers about Il museo è lontano da Napoli?
Why do we use da in this sentence?
In Italian, the preposition da is used to talk about origin, starting points, and distance. When you want to express being far "from" a place like Naples, da is the exact word you need.
Does the word lontano always go with da?
Yes, when you want to say "far from" somewhere, you will use the set phrase lontano da. This is the opposite of "close to", which is vicino a. It is very helpful to memorize these prepositions as pairs with their adjectives!
Why isn't it dal Napoli? Doesn't da usually combine with the word for "the"?
While da does combine with definite articles like il to make words like dal, we do not use "the" before the names of cities in Italian. Because it is just Napoli, the preposition da stands alone.
The word order looks like a normal statement. How do we know it is a question?