Saturday 18 June 2011

Preposizioni

Prepositions are a sticky point in Italian; which ones should you use, when, and when should you not use them? Let’s look at one common mistake:

Vengo da Francia

Here the preposition "da" is the right choice, but needs to be combined to the definite article:

Vengo dalla Francia (I come from France)

Another mistake:

Vorrei un libro per leggere in vacanza

In this type of sentence, what should be used is not "per" but "da":

Vorrei un libro da leggere in vacanza (I’d like a book to read on holiday)

Here are some more examples about that point:

A Londra ci sono molte cose da vedere
In London there are many things to see)

Oggi ho molte cose da fare
(Today I have many things to do)

In frigo non c'è molto da mangiare
(In the fridge there isn’t much to eat)

And here are some sentences where the preposition is either unnecessary, missing, wrong or incomplete:

Partirò al weekend prossimo
Partirò il prossimo weekend
I’ll leave next weekend

Giocare calcio
Giocare a calcio
To play football

Mi alzo all’otto
Mi alzo alle otto
I get up at eight

Di fronte del parco
Di fronte al parco
In front of the park

La partita finisce a le mezzogiorno
La partita finisce a mezzogiorno
The match finishes at midday

Torno alla casa domani
Torno a casa a domani
I go back home tomorrow

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