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Sta' vicino al fuoco, il cielo è buio.

Sta' vicino al fuoco, il cielo è buio.
Stay near the fire, the sky is dark.
From Lesson 121:Irregular informal commands (sii, fa', sta')·Italian

Questions & Answers about Sta' vicino al fuoco, il cielo è buio.

Why does Sta' have an apostrophe at the end?
Sta' is the informal command (imperative) for tu (you), from the verb stare (to stay). The apostrophe shows that a letter has been dropped from the end. You will see this apostrophe on a few short irregular commands taught in this lesson, such as fa' (fare), va' (andare), and di' (dire).
Is it also correct to say stai instead of sta' here?
Yes! For verbs like stare, andare, fare, and dare, both forms are correct for the tu command. You can say either sta' vicino or stai vicino to mean "stay near!". (Just keep in mind that the verb dire is an exception; its command form is always just di').
Doesn't stare usually mean "to be" (like in Come stai)?
While beginners often first learn stare in phrases about health (Come stai? = How are you?), its primary, literal meaning is actually "to stay" or "to remain." This sentence demonstrates its exact literal meaning: telling someone to "stay" in a specific place.
Why do we use al instead of just il before fuoco?
The Italian expression for "near" or "close to" is vicino a. Because "the fire" is il fuoco, you have to combine the preposition a with the definite article il. Together, a + il become the combined word al.

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