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Noi arriviamo dal nord e loro dal sud.

Noi arriviamo dal nord e loro dal sud.
We arrive from the north and they from the south.
From Lesson 48:Articulated prepositions with di and da (del, dal)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Noi arriviamo dal nord e loro dal sud.

Why do we use dal instead of just da?
In Italian, compass directions like nord and sud require the definite article il (the). When the preposition da (from) comes right before il, they merge together into the articulated preposition dal.
Since the lesson is about di and da, why can't we use del (di + il) here?
da is used for physical movement away from a place, like arriving from a direction. di is generally used to mean "of", or to state your origin city (like Sono di Roma). Because we are actively arriving from a place, dal is the correct choice.
Why isn't there a verb for loro (they) in the second half of the sentence?
Just like in English, you can drop the second verb if it is exactly the same action. The full sentence would be Noi arriviamo dal nord e loro arrivano dal sud, but leaving out the second verb avoids repetition and sounds much more natural.
Are compass directions always masculine?
Yes! The cardinal directions (nord, sud, est, ovest) are all masculine words. Because of this, they all use masculine articles, which is why both halves of this sentence use dal (da + il).

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