4

Vicino vs vicina:

Il supermercato è vicino al ponte.

Sounds right, as both "supermercato" and "ponte" are masculine.

La libreria è vicina al parco.

Doesn't make sense to me because "parco" is masculine. Is it because "libreria" is feminine? Does it take the gender of the subject?

Charo
  • 38,766
  • 38
  • 147
  • 319
David Poker
  • 43
  • 5
  • I notice now that a very similar topic has been covered at least two times, here and here. – DaG Apr 13 '15 at 08:04
  • Yes, I saw the first one, but it didn't help much. It only asked the difference between vicino and vicina, not how they were used. That's why I included the two examples. As for the second example, it's in Italian, and I'm just starting to learn Italian, so it was not helpful for me. – David Poker Apr 13 '15 at 18:58

1 Answers1

6

Yes, the adjective governed by the verb essere (to be) takes the gender of the subject, and in your sentence libreria is indeed the subject. Think “la libreria è bella”, and compare with “la libreria è vicina (al parco)”.

DaG
  • 36,593
  • 6
  • 68
  • 128
  • I'm not really convinced. What about la libreria è situata vicino al parco? Do you see any difference in the grammatical role of vicino? – egreg Apr 13 '15 at 07:50
  • Of course, @egreg, that is a different use of vicino, as an adverb rather than as an adjective, and as such it is invariant; I might even write, say, la libreria sta vicino al parco, but la libreria è vicinX al parco sounds more like a description of the bookshop, and as such I'd use an adjective. – DaG Apr 13 '15 at 08:02
  • It seems to me more like the description of the bookshop's location. – egreg Apr 13 '15 at 09:08
  • Yes, @greg, and by the same token we might say that la libreria è rossa is a description of the bookshop's colour, but I cannot see how this affect the agreement between noun and adjective. Do you actually find it more idiomatic to say la libreria è vicino al parco? (Not a rethorical question.) – DaG Apr 13 '15 at 10:58
  • la libreria è vicino al parco refers to the park; la libreria è ampia refers to the bookshop. I'm not saying the first is better or worse than using vicina, I'm only saying it's not “black and white”. – egreg Apr 13 '15 at 20:01
  • La libreria è vicino al parco sounds very unusual to me, but it may well be a regional/personal thing. – DaG Apr 13 '15 at 20:43