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La macchina è rotta, andiamo dal meccanico?

La macchina è rotta, andiamo dal meccanico?
The car is broken, are we going to the mechanic?
From Lesson 93:The locative pronoun (ci)·Italian

Questions & Answers about La macchina è rotta, andiamo dal meccanico?

Why do we use dal instead of al to say "to the mechanic"?
When you are going to a person's house or place of business (like a mechanic, doctor, or a friend), Italian uses the preposition da, not a. Since meccanico is masculine singular, da combines with il to become dal.
How would I reply "Yes, we are going there" using the pronoun ci?
You can replace the whole destination phrase dal meccanico with the locative pronoun ci (meaning "there"). Just place it right before the conjugated verb: Sì, ci andiamo.
Where does the word rotta come from?
It is the past participle of the irregular verb rompere (to break). Here it is being used as an adjective to describe la macchina (which is feminine singular), so it changes its ending to match, becoming rotta.
Why isn't there a separate word for "are" in andiamo dal meccanico?
Italian doesn't require a separate verb to say you "are doing" something right now. The single present tense verb andiamo covers "we go", "we are going", and "let's go". You just raise your voice at the end to make it a question!

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