Breakdown of Sei molto miope, devi andare dall'oculista.
essere
to be
molto
very
da
from, at (someone's place) / by (oneself), on one's own
andare
to go / to be fine / to work out
dovere
must
l'oculista
the ophthalmologist / the eye doctor (m/f)
miope
nearsighted
Questions & Answers about Sei molto miope, devi andare dall'oculista.
Since this lesson is about vederci (to be able to see), how could I rewrite this sentence using that verb?
Why do we use dall' (da + l') here instead of all' (a + l') for going to the eye doctor?
In Italian, when you go to a person (like a doctor, a friend, or a specific professional), you must use the preposition da. You only use a or in when going to a place (like in farmacia or all'ospedale). Since an oculista is a person, you are grammatically going to the place of the doctor, so we use da combined with the article.
How do words like miope and oculista change if I am talking to a man versus a woman?
They don't change in the singular! Adjectives ending in -e like miope are the exact same for masculine and feminine. Similarly, professions ending in -ista like oculista are identical for both genders in the singular. The article would reveal the gender if we used a standard one (like il nuovo oculista vs la nuova oculista), but here dall' works for both since the noun starts with a vowel.
What happens to the endings of miope and oculista if I need to use them in the plural?
If you were addressing multiple nearsighted people, miope becomes miopi (the standard plural for adjectives ending in -e). For the doctor, the plural of -ista words splits by gender: a group of male (or mixed) eye doctors is oculisti, while an exclusively female group is oculiste.
Learn Sei molto miope, devi andare dall'oculista and more in Italian
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free