Simple prepositions in Italian, or preposizioni semplici, are the magical little words that allow us to connect the meaning, details, and specificity of actions: with whom we are doing something, for what, to what end, where, and where to. They are a neat little bunch, easy to remember, and this is the order in which they are taught to Italians.
π₯ DI: of, from, about.
1. La moto Γ¨ di Gino. β‘ The motorcycle is Gino’s.
2. Paolo Γ¨ di Roma. β‘ Paolo is from Rome.
3. Muoio di fame. β‘ I’m starving, lit. “I am dying of hunger”.
4. Parlo di Sofia. β‘ I’m speaking about Lucia.
π§ A: to, at, in.
1. Vivo a Palermo. β‘ I live in Palermo.
2. Vado a Napoli. β‘ I’m going to Naples.
3. A scuola ci sono molti bambini. β‘ At school there are many children.
4. Non credo alle favole. β‘ I don’t believe in fairy tales.
π¨ DA: from, as of this moment, around, through, over, to.
1. Vengo da Firenze. β‘ I am from Florence.
2. Da domani non lavoro. β‘ As of tomorrow I’m not working.
3. Abito da quella parte. β‘ I live around that way.
4. Da quella strada non si passa. β‘ You can’t get there from that road.
5. Vado da Mario, β‘ I am going to Mario’s.
π© IN: in, at, to.
1. Vivo in Inghilterra. β‘ I live in England.
2. Sono in palestra. β‘ I’m at the gym.
3. Vado in biblioteca. β‘ I’m going to the library.
π¦ SU: on, on top of, concerning, about.
1. La penna Γ¨ sul tavolo. β‘ The pen is on the table.
2. Su questo non ci sono dubbi. β‘ About this, there are no doubts.
3. Scrivo un tema su Leopardi. β‘ I’m writing an essay about Leopardi.
There are also the prepositions CON – PER – TRA/FRA which I’m not explaining in this video but in here you have some examples:
π’ CON = with
– Vengo con te β‘ I’m coming with you
π‘ PER = for, to.
– Questo regalo Γ¨ per te β‘ This present is for you.
-Ho fatto di tutto per andare in vacanza β‘ I did everything to go on holiday.
π TRA or FRA = between, in. These 2 prepositions are interchangeable, they mean the same and you can choose either “tra” or “fra” as you wish.
– Tra noi non ci sono segreti β‘ There are no secrets between us.
– Ci vediamo fra un’ora β‘ We’ll see each other in an hour.
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