Breakdown of Nel pomeriggio gioco a calcio con gli amici in un campo vicino alla ferrovia.
io
I
in
in
con
with
l'amico
the friend
vicino a
near
il pomeriggio
the afternoon
nel
in
giocare a calcio
to play soccer
il campo
the field
la ferrovia
the railway
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Questions & Answers about Nel pomeriggio gioco a calcio con gli amici in un campo vicino alla ferrovia.
What does nel pomeriggio mean, and why not just in pomeriggio or di pomeriggio?
Nel is the contraction of in + il, so nel pomeriggio literally means “in the afternoon.” In Italian you usually use the definite article when speaking of times of day in a specific or habitual sense. In pomeriggio (without the article) is ungrammatical, while di pomeriggio is also correct but tends to emphasize “in afternoons” generally, rather than a particular afternoon.
Why do we say gioco a calcio instead of gioco calcio?
The verb giocare (“to play”) always takes the preposition a before the name of a sport or game:
- giocare a calcio
- giocare a tennis
- giocare a carte
Leaving out a would be incorrect.
Why is it con gli amici instead of con i amici?
The word amici is masculine plural and begins with a vowel. The definite article for masculine plural is normally i, but before a vowel (and certain consonant clusters) it becomes gli. Hence con gli amici (“with the friends”).
Why do we say in un campo for “in a field” and not su un campo or a un campo?
- in indicates being inside or within an area—here, you’re inside the football field.
- su would mean “on top of,” which doesn’t fit.
- a un campo or al campo could imply movement toward a specific field or location, whereas in un campo simply locates the action inside some (unspecified) field.
Why is it vicino alla ferrovia and not vicino ferrovia or vicino al ferrovia?
The adjective vicino (“near”) governs a when linking to a noun: vicino a + noun. If the noun has a definite article, a + la (for feminine singular) contracts to alla. So you get vicino alla ferrovia (“near the railway”).
Why is the simple present gioco used here, rather than something like “I am playing”?
Italian uses the simple present (gioco) both for habitual actions (“I play soccer”) and for actions happening right now, without a special emphasis on their ongoing nature. English distinguishes with the present continuous (“I am playing”), but in Italian you’d only switch to the present continuous (sto giocando a calcio) if you particularly wanted to stress that you’re in the middle of playing.
Can we omit the article in in un campo and just say in campo?
Generally, Italian requires an article with singular countable nouns, so in un campo is standard. You do see in campo in fixed sports expressions (e.g., entrare in campo “to enter the field”), but when you want to say “in a field” in a normal sentence, you need the article: in un campo.