Breakdown of Ho ricevuto una seconda conferma via e-mail per la prenotazione dell’hotel.
io
I
di
of
per
for
ricevere
to receive
la prenotazione
the reservation
l'hotel
the hotel
via
by
secondo
second
la conferma
the confirmation
l'e-mail
the e-mail
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Questions & Answers about Ho ricevuto una seconda conferma via e-mail per la prenotazione dell’hotel.
Why is ho ricevuto used here instead of a simple past tense form like “ricevei”?
Italian typically uses the passato prossimo (present perfect) to talk about completed actions in the past that have relevance now. Ho ricevuto is the passato prossimo of ricevere and is far more common in spoken and written Italian than the literary passato remoto form ricevei, which you’d almost never use in everyday contexts.
Why does the sentence say una seconda conferma instead of la seconda conferma?
Using una (“a”) signals that this is just another confirmation in addition to a previous one—“a second confirmation”—without implying it’s the only or the final one. If you said la seconda conferma, you’d be suggesting a strict sequence: “the second confirmation” in a counted series. In most booking contexts, speakers mean “another” or “a second” rather than “specifically number two of an exact list.”
What does via e-mail mean, and could I say per e-mail or per posta elettronica instead?
Via e-mail literally means “by e-mail,” borrowed directly from English. You can certainly say per e-mail (also common) or use the full Italian per posta elettronica. The differences are minor:
- via e-mail: more informal, anglicism
- per e-mail: a bit more Italianized
- per posta elettronica: fully Italian, slightly more formal
Why is per used before la prenotazione? Could another preposition work?
Here per indicates purpose or the object relating to the confirmation: “confirmation for the booking.” If you tried di, as in conferma di prenotazione, that also works but changes the structure to “booking confirmation.” But in this sentence the speaker focuses on sending something for that reservation, so per is the natural choice.
Why do we write dell’hotel with an apostrophe, and how does it form?
Dell’hotel comes from di + l’hotel. Because hotel starts with a vowel and is preceded by the definite article l’, the di (of) merges into dell’ (of the) with an apostrophe replacing the dropped vowel. So:
di + il hotel → del hotel (if hotel began with a consonant)
di + l’hotel → dell’hotel
Is e-mail masculine or feminine in Italian?
Most Italians treat e-mail as feminine, since it’s short for posta elettronica (feminine). Hence we say la e-mail or una e-mail. You might occasionally hear il mail, but that’s influenced by masculine English “mail” and is less standard.
Could I say prenotazione in hotel or prenotazione all’hotel instead of prenotazione dell’hotel?
You can say prenotazione in hotel to mean “booking at the hotel,” but it shifts the focus to location rather than whose booking it is. Prenotazione all’hotel (a + l’hotel) is less idiomatic; speakers usually specify dell’hotel (“of the hotel”) or simply per l’hotel if you want “for the hotel.” The most neutral, common phrasing is prenotazione dell’hotel or prenotazione in albergo (using the Italian word for hotel).