Breakdown of L'aeroporto è a est, vicino al mare.
essere
to be
l'aeroporto
the airport (m)
a
to / at
al
to the / at the
Questions & Answers about L'aeroporto è a est, vicino al mare.
Why do we use a for "to the east"? Can I use in?
In Italian, you use the preposition a with cardinal directions (north, south, east, west) to say "to the [direction]" or "in the [direction]". So, "to the east" is always a est.
Since est starts with a vowel, shouldn't it be ad est?
You can absolutely say ad est, and it is very common! Adding a d to the preposition a helps smooth out the pronunciation when the next word starts with a vowel. Both a est and ad est are correct here.
Why is there an al after vicino? Can I just say vicino il mare?
You always need the preposition a after vicino when stating what something is near to. Because mare (sea) uses the masculine definite article il, you combine a + il to get the articulated preposition al.
How do we know if mare is masculine or feminine since it ends in -e?