prepositions

Prepositions are a pain. They are short words that look a lot alike and are easy to mistake for each other. They each have several meanings depending on context. And their use varies from language to language. When English uses “to”, Italian might use “at”. When English uses “at”, Italian might use “from”. And so on. So learning them takes a lot of patience. There aren’t many rules I can give you to help. They are an area of any language where there are more exceptions than rules.

To start off, what are the most common prepositions?

a – at, to

da – from

di – of

in – in

su – on

con – with

per – for

Keep in mind the meanings given above are pretty loose. “Di” can also mean “from”. “Da” can also mean “by”. And so on. But this will get you started, as a beginner.

What do prepositions do? What are they used for? Their main use is to establish a relationship between a verb (action word) and a noun (person, place or thing), or between two nouns. They often help answer the question, “Where?” For example:

I’m going.

You’re going where?

I’m going to my sister’s.

Put the book.

Put the book where?

Put the book on the shelf.

I read it.

You read it where?

I read it in the paper.

So one of the main purposes of prepositions (though not the only one) is to establish a relationship of position, direction or location between a verb and a noun.

When a preposition is followed by a definite article ("the"), the two contract. Take a look at this chart.

	il	lo	l’	la	i	gli	le
a	al	allo	all’	alla	ai	agli	alle
da	dal	dallo	dall’	dalla	dai	dagli	dalle
di	del	dello	dell’	della	dei	degli	delle
in	nel	nello	nell’	nella	nei	negli	nelle
su	sul	sullo	sull’	sulla	sui	sugli	sulle

So "to the museum" = "a il museo" which contracts to become "al museo". The "a" and the "il" blend together to form a single new word.

Take some time to memorize the chart. It's an Italian essential. Then come back tomorrow for some practice. Ciao for now!