This lesson is about the different use of the prepositions ‘a’ and ‘in’ in Italian grammar.
Let’s start with the preposition ‘a’, which means ‘to’ (movement) or ‘in’ if it indicates location (cities and places).
Examples:
Tu dai la penna a Simona. (You give the pen to Simona.)
Sono a casa. (I’m at home.)
Abito a Roma, ma ora sono a Venezia. (I live in Rome, but now I’m in Venice.)
We generally use the preposition ‘a’ with the infinite form of the verbs and with names of cities and minor islands.
Examples:
Vado a mangiare fuori stasera. (I will eat out this evening.)
Torno a Madrid per Natale. (I will go back to Madrid for Christmas.)
As regard the preposition ‘in’, we use it with the names of continents, states, nations, regions, larger islands, and with words ending in “-eria”.
Examples:
In Inghilterra bevi tè tutti i giorni. (In England you drink tea every day.)
Bologna si trova in Emilia-Romagna. (Bologna is in Emilia-Romagna.)
Di solito compro i libri in quella libreria. (I usually buy books in that bookshop.)
Here are a few of the nouns before which we use the preposition ‘in’:
banca (bank) , biblioteca (library), classe (class), città (city), chiesa (church), campagna (country), piscina (pool), ufficio (office), albergo (hotel), farmacia (pharmacy)
Careful!
When talking about someone’s house or place of work, you use the preposition ‘da’ plus the name of the owner.
Examples:
Sono dal dottore. (I’m at the Doctor’s office.)
Vado da Sara per il weekend. (I’m going to Sara’s place for the weekend.)
Back to Italian lesson on: Prepositions
