What is the correct form of "from" in the following sentence?

Question

This is the sentence I would like to say in Italian: "He does not come from the United States" (formal). I think it is:

Lui non viene dagli Stati Uniti.

What is the correct word for from in this instance? I know it has to be plural, I think because of the plural 'Stati', but I am at sea, here! Is it one of these, or something else? Why?

• dagli
• delle
• dalle

Answer 1

"Lui non viene dagli Stati Uniti" is correct.

"Da" can be combined with each of the 6 forms of the article "the":

• "da" + "lo" -> "dallo" (M, S, used when the next word starts with a vowel, z-, x-, y-, pt-, gn-, pn- or the so called "s impura", which is s+consonant)
• "da" + "il" -> "dal" (masculine, singular, used in the remaining cases)
• "da" + "la" -> "dalla" (feminine, S)
• "da" + "gli" -> "dagli" (M, P, used as "lo")
• "da" + "i" -> "dai" (M, plural, used as "il")
• "da" + "le" -> "dalle" (F, P)

Indeed, "Stati" is plural, masculine (most of the nouns ending in -i are masculine and plural) and starts with "s" + consonant, hence we use "dagli".

Answer 2

Lui non viene dagli Stati Uniti.

is the right option, as you wrote. Here using dagli is correct since the compound preposition is followed by a plural and masculine noun, Stati.

---

• Delle is not appropriate: the preposition di can be used to specify a provenience, but mainly if followed by the name of a city, e.g.:

  Sono di Napoli (I'm from Naples);

• dalle must be followed by a feminine and plural noun:

  Lui non viene dalle Azzorre (He does not come from the Azores).