Word order in Italian

Lesson 2.3 has a sentance 'Mi può fare una fotografia con dietro la chiesa?'
Can someone explain why dietro (behind) comes before comes before la chiesa - ie why its 'with behind the church' , not con la chiesa dietro?

Hi johnnorthrop549, 

Thanks for your question! 

In this case, you could either say "con dietro la chiesa" or "con la chiesa dietro", the overall meaning won't change.

There might be a very subtle difference between the two in the sense that "con dietro la chiesa" puts more emphasis on the fact that the church has to appear behind the subject of the picture. In fact, the word "dietro" has a bit more relevance when put in this order. When instead we use the sentence "con la chiesa dietro" this emphasis is weaker and the term "behind" could even simply be used to indicate which church you wish to take the picture (I would like you to take a picture of me with the church that is behind, not with the church that is on the opposite side of the street).

Hope this helps you understand the order better but, again, even if you inverted it the general meaning would not change :)