Breakdown of L'esercito si avvicina lentamente.
lentamente
slowly
avvicinarsi
to approach
l'esercito
the army (m)
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Italian grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about L'esercito si avvicina lentamente.
Why does the verb use the singular form si avvicina when an army is made up of many people?
Why is there a si before the verb? Is "to approach" reflexive in Italian?
Yes, it is. The infinitive verb used here is avvicinarsi, which literally means "to bring oneself closer." Because it acts as a reflexive verb in Italian, you must include the reflexive pronoun si to match the third-person subject (l'esercito).
How does the word lentamente connect to the adjective for "slow"?
If I wanted to say what the army is approaching, do I need a preposition after the verb?
Yes, you would use the preposition a. The verb is avvicinarsi a (to approach [something]). If the sentence included a destination, you would combine a with the definite article, like this: L'esercito si avvicina alla città (The army approaches the city). Since our sentence doesn't state a destination, we don't need a preposition here.