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.
🟥 DI: of, from, about.
1. La moto è di Gino. ➡ The motorcycle is Gino’s.
2. Paolo è di Roma. ➡ Paolo is from Rome.
3. Muoio di fame. ➡ I’m starving, lit. “I am dying of hunger”.
4. Parlo di Sofia. ➡ I’m speaking about Lucia.
🟧 A: to, at, in.
1. Vivo a Palermo. ➡ I live in Palermo.
2. Vado a Napoli. ➡ I’m going to Naples.
3. A scuola ci sono molti bambini. ➡ At school there are many children.
4. Non credo alle favole. ➡ I don’t believe in fairy tales.
🟨 DA: from, as of this moment, around, through, over, to.
1. Vengo da Firenze. ➡ I am from Florence.
2. Da domani non lavoro. ➡ As of tomorrow I’m not working.
3. Abito da quella parte. ➡ I live around that way.
4. Da quella strada non si passa. ➡ You can’t get there from that road.
5. Vado da Mario, ➡ I am going to Mario’s.
🟩 IN: in, at, to.
1. Vivo in Inghilterra. ➡ I live in England.
2. Sono in palestra. ➡ I’m at the gym.
3. Vado in biblioteca. ➡ I’m going to the library.
🟦 SU: on, on top of, concerning, about.
1. La penna è sul tavolo. ➡ The pen is on the table.
2. Su questo non ci sono dubbi. ➡ About this, there are no doubts.
3. Scrivo un tema su Leopardi. ➡ 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:
🟢 CON = with
– Vengo con te ➡ I’m coming with you
🟡 PER = for, to.
– Questo regalo è per te ➡ This present is for you.
-Ho fatto di tutto per andare in vacanza ➡ I did everything to go on holiday.
🟠 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 ➡ There are no secrets between us.
– Ci vediamo fra un’ora ➡ We’ll see each other in an hour.
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