Learn Italian: Lo studente non va dal professore. - The student does not go to the professor.

You are right that da usually means 'from'. However, Italian has a special rule: when you are going to see a person (like a doctor, a friend, or a professor), you use da instead of a (to). So, going to see the professor requires da.

How is the word dal formed?

dal is an articulated preposition, meaning it combines a preposition with a definite article ('the'). It is made by merging da (to/from) and il (the, for professore). da + il = dal.

Why is the article lo used for studente instead of the usual il?

For masculine nouns, if the word starts with an 's' followed by another consonant (like the 'st' in studente), Italian uses the article lo instead of il. This makes the words flow together better and makes them easier to pronounce!

Which verb does va come from?

va is the 'he/she/it' form of the highly irregular verb andare (to go). Here, it matches our subject, lo studente.