Word
L'asilo è vicino al parco.
Meaning
The kindergarten is near the park.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of L'asilo è vicino al parco.
essere
to be
il parco
the park
al
to the / at the
vicino
near / close
Questions & Answers about L'asilo è vicino al parco.
Asilo looks like the English word "asylum". Does it really mean kindergarten?
Yes, it is a false friend! In everyday Italian, asilo (or asilo nido) means a day-care, nursery school, or kindergarten.
Why do we say vicino al parco instead of just vicino il parco?
The word vicino (near) usually requires the preposition a (to) when it is followed by a noun, so you are essentially saying "near to the park". When you combine the preposition a with the masculine article il (the), it forms the combined word al.
Would vicino change to vicina if the place we were near was feminine?
No, in this phrase vicino acts as an adverb of place describing location, so its ending does not change to match the noun. It stays vicino no matter what you are near. However, the combined preposition changes. For example, "near the station" would be vicino alla stazione.
Why does è have an accent mark?
The accent mark shows that è means "is" (from the verb essere). Without the accent, e simply means "and".