Breakdown of Prima dell'arrivo del treno, sarete andati al binario?
essere
to be
il treno
the train
andare
to go / to be fine / to work out
a
to / at
del
of the; than the (di + il)
prima
before, earlier
l'arrivo
the arrival
il binario
the platform
Questions & Answers about Prima dell'arrivo del treno, sarete andati al binario?
Why does this sentence use sarete instead of avrete for "will have"?
The verb andare (to go) is a verb of motion, which means it requires essere (to be) as its auxiliary or helping verb. To form the Future Perfect tense here, you use the future tense of essere for "you all" (sarete) combined with the past participle (andati).
Why does the past participle andati end with an -i?
Whenever you use essere as an auxiliary verb, the past participle has to match the subject in gender and number. Here, the subject is a plural "you all", so it takes the plural ending -i (assuming a group of men or a mixed group). If you were speaking to a group of only women, it would be sarete andate.
Why is it prima dell'arrivo and not just prima l'arrivo?
The phrase for "before a noun" is prima di. Because arrivo (arrival) requires the definite article l', the preposition di combines with l' to form the combined word dell'.
We sometimes say "on the platform" in English. Why does the Italian use al binario?
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