La mattina prendo un cucchiaio e una forchetta dalla cucina.

In the morning, I take a spoon and a fork from the kitchen.

Breakdown of La mattina prendo un cucchiaio e una forchetta dalla cucina.

• io: I
• prendere: to take
• da: from
• la mattina: the morning
• e: and
• il cucchiaio: the spoon
• la forchetta: the fork
• la cucina: the kitchen

Questions & Answers about La mattina prendo un cucchiaio e una forchetta dalla cucina.

Why do we say La mattina instead of omitting the article?

In Italian, it's common to use the definite article with times of day or habitual actions. Saying La mattina conveys the idea of every morning or in the morning. It’s a way to emphasize that this is a usual routine.

How do I pronounce cucchiaio?

Cucchiaio is pronounced roughly as "koo-kyai-oh." The combination ch is a hard "k" sound, and the gl sound in English can make an Italian "cch" sound tricky, but just think of it as two separate syllables: cuc-chi-a-io. Practice slowly: cuc-chia-io.

Why is prendo used here?

Because prendere generally means to take. In the context of everyday actions, prendo is the present tense meaning I take. It’s commonly used when talking about picking up something, like utensils from the kitchen.

Why do we need the preposition dalla when talking about taking something from the kitchen?

The phrase dalla cucina comes from da + la cucina (meaning from the kitchen). In Italian, you often combine da with the definite article la to say dalla, which translates to from the. So dalla cucina = from the kitchen.

What’s the difference between un cucchiaio and una forchetta?

Un is used before masculine nouns (like cucchiaio), and una is used before feminine nouns (like forchetta). In Italian, nouns have grammatical gender, and the article changes accordingly.