Breakdown of Il passaporto e il visto vanno esibiti al confine.
e
and
al
to the / at the
il passaporto
the passport
il confine
the boundary
il visto
the visa
andare
must be (+ past participle)
esibire
to show / to exhibit (e.g., documents, tickets)
Questions & Answers about Il passaporto e il visto vanno esibiti al confine.
Why does the sentence use vanno esibiti instead of devono essere esibiti?
This uses the passivo di necessita (passive of necessity) that you are learning in this lesson. By using the verb andare (here as vanno) as an auxiliary instead of essere, the sentence automatically gains a strong sense of obligation. While devono essere esibiti is completely correct, vanno esibiti is a very natural and concise way for Italians to say they must be shown.
Why does the past participle end in -i (esibiti)?
In all passive voice constructions, including this one using andare, the past participle acts like an adjective and must agree in gender and number with the subject. The subject here is compound: il passaporto (masculine singular) plus il visto (masculine singular) creates a masculine plural subject. Therefore, esibito changes to esibiti.
What verb does esibiti come from, and why not just use mostrati?
It comes from esibire, meaning to show, exhibit, or produce. While you could use mostrare (to show), esibire is the standard, slightly more formal verb used specifically when presenting official documents like IDs, tickets, or passports to an authority.
Why do we use al before confine?
The noun confine (border) takes the preposition a to indicate being at a specific geographic point or location. When you combine a with the masculine singular article il, it forms the combined preposition al, meaning at the border.
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