3. In dates—note that nel is the contraction for the prepositional article in + il: Cristoforo Colombo è nato nel 1451. (Christopher Columbus was born in 1451.)Caravaggio è morto nel 1570. (Carava
2. In describing a method of transportation: Andiamo in macchina. (We are going by car.)Andiamo in autobus. (We are going by bus.)Viaggiamo in aereo. (We are traveling by plane.)Viaggiamo in barca. (W
Usually the Italian preposition in means “in“ in English, but it can also mean “to“ or “by“! The preposition in is used in the following cases. 1. To express the idea of going somewhere or
Although the imperative conjugation has a form you’re already familiar with, there are some Italian verbs that have irregular forms for the familiar commands in the tu and voi forms (see the table b
The imperative verb forms are used to give orders or advice, to urge strongly, and to exhort. It is a simple tense—in the sense that it isn’t compound—and has only one form, the present. Further
Taglia il pane con quel coltello. (He/she cuts the bread with that knife.)Apre la porta con questa chiave. (He/she opens the door with this key.)Ha risposto con gentilezza. (He/she responded with gent
3. Destination: Questa lettera è per il direttore. (This letter is for the director.) Another useful preposition to know is su (on). Su is used in Italian to indicate location or a topic of discourse
The Italian prepositions per, su, con, and fra/tra stand for many different words and are used in a variety of grammatical constructions. The preposition per (“for“ in English) is used to indicate
Romeo and Juliet meet, hug, kiss, and fall in love. They comfort each other, admire each other, and get married—but not without some help from reciprocal reflexive verbs! These verbs express a recip
Non è punto arrivata. (She hasn’t arrived at all.)When using the expressions non...affatto (not at all), non...ancora (not yet), and non...più (no more, no longer), the words affatto, ancora, or p