Breakdown of Il supermercato non è lontano da qui.
essere
to be
qui
here
non
not
da
from, at (someone's place) / by (oneself), on one's own
il supermercato
the supermarket
lontano
far
Questions & Answers about Il supermercato non è lontano da qui.
Why does lontano use da instead of a?
In Italian, different location phrases require specific prepositions. Lontano (far) always pairs with da (from), which makes sense if you think of the English 'far from'. By contrast, words like vicino (near) or davanti (in front) pair with a.
Why is it just da qui and not combined into a single word like dal?
Qui (here) is an adverb, not a noun, so it doesn't take a definite article like il or la. Because there is no article to combine with, the preposition da remains separate. If you were saying 'far from the center', da would combine with il to become dal centro.
Can I put non after the verb, like 'Il supermercato è non lontano'?
Could I use qua instead of qui in this sentence?
Yes, you can! Qui and qua both mean 'here' and are almost always interchangeable in everyday speech. Saying lontano da qua is perfectly natural and correct.
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