Breakdown of Prima di iniziare l'imbarco, sarai andato alla dogana?
essere
to be
di
of, from
iniziare
to start
andare
to go / to be fine / to work out
alla
to the / at the (feminine singular)
prima
before, earlier
l'imbarco
boarding
la dogana
customs
Questions & Answers about Prima di iniziare l'imbarco, sarai andato alla dogana?
Why do we use sarai instead of avrai to say "will you have"?
Because the main verb is andare (to go), which is a verb of motion. In Italian compound tenses like the Future Perfect, verbs of motion, state of being, and reflexive verbs use essere (to be) as their helping verb. To build it, you take the future tense of essere (sarai for "you") and add the past participle (andato).
If I am asking a woman this question, does andato change?
Why is iniziare in the infinitive (to start) instead of translating the "-ing" in "starting"?
In English, we often use an "-ing" word after "before" (before starting). In Italian, the phrase prima di (before) is always followed by the infinitive form of the verb. It literally translates to "Before to start".
Why do we use alla in alla dogana instead of nella?
For certain public buildings, offices, and institutions—like la dogana (customs), la stazione (the station), or la banca (the bank)—Italian traditionally uses the preposition a (to/at) to indicate going there. Here, a combines with the feminine definite article la to form alla.
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