Italian word of the day
| Pronunciation | |
| English translation | In front of, opposite from |
| Origin | From the Latin word dē abănte, “in front of” |
Examples
| Ho parcheggiato l’auto davanti al negozio. | I parked my car in front of the store. |
| Il traghetto parte dal molo davanti al porto. | The ferry leaves from the pier in front of the harbor. |
| Il cinema si trova davanti alla stazione ferroviaria. | The cinema is located in front of the train station. |
| Luca soffre di mal d’auto e si siede sempre davanti. | Luke gets carsick and always sits in the front. |
How to use davanti
We’ve said that davanti in Italian is an adverb and a preposition that translates to the English words “in front of” and “opposite from”. As an adverb, it follows a verb.
| Io mi siedo davanti, tu siediti dietro. | I sit in the front, you sit in the back. |
As a preposition, davanti needs to be followed by another preposition, a, which translates “to”. Davanti a literally means “in front to”.
| La ragazza si mette davanti allo specchio. | The girl stands in front of the mirror. |
Davanti a is also used in front of pronouns, not just nouns.
| Gli occhiali sono proprio davanti a te. | The glasses are right in front of you. |
Less commonly, davanti in Italian can also be used as a noun to translate “the front of sth”.
| Abbiamo fatto ridipingere il davanti della casa. | We had the front of the house repainted. |
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