Devi andare davanti all'ingresso.

Questions & Answers about Devi andare davanti all'ingresso.

Why does this sentence use all' instead of just a after davanti?
The expression for "in front of" is davanti a. Because ingresso (entrance) is a masculine noun starting with a vowel, it requires the definite article l'. In Italian, you must combine the preposition a and the article l' into the single articulated preposition all'.
Why are there two L's in all'?
When combining a short preposition like a, da, or su with an article that begins with an L (like lo, la, l', or le), the L doubles. That's why a + l' becomes all' instead of just "al'".
Could I use di fronte a instead of davanti a here?
Yes, you could say di fronte all'ingresso. Both can mean "in front of," but davanti a simply refers to the physical location (being positioned before the entrance), while di fronte a often carries the slight extra nuance of "facing" or being directly "opposite" something.
Why is andare left in its infinitive (dictionary) form?
Because it follows devi, which is the conjugated form of the verb dovere (to have to / must). In Italian, when you use a modal or "helper" verb like dovere, the second verb that follows it always stays in the infinitive form, which is andare in this case.

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