Breakdown of Invio il file via email prima di iniziare la riunione.
io
I
prima di
before
iniziare
to start
la riunione
the meeting
via
by
l'email
the email
il file
the file
inviare
to send
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Questions & Answers about Invio il file via email prima di iniziare la riunione.
Why is the present tense Invio used instead of the future Invierò?
In Italian the present indicative often conveys a near-future action when there’s a time marker (here prima di iniziare). It’s common to say Invio il file… to mean “I’ll send the file…”. Using Invierò is also correct but emphasizes a more distant or formal future.
Why does the sentence use il file with the definite article? In English we sometimes omit “the”.
Italian normally requires an article before a noun, even when English drops it. Here il file points to a specific file you both know about. Saying Invio file sounds generic or incomplete.
Is via email the only way to say “by email”? Could I use per email or con email?
Both via email and per email are idiomatic.
- via (“by way of”) is borrowed like English “via”.
- per email literally means “through email”.
Con email is not standard. You can also write via e-mail with a hyphen.
Why is there no hyphen in email? Is it one word or two?
In modern Italian the most accepted form is email (one word, no hyphen). You still see e-mail in older or formal texts, but email is now the standard.
How does prima di iniziare work grammatically? Why di + infinitive?
To say “before doing something,” Italian uses prima di + infinitive.
Structure:
• prima di (before)
• iniziare (to start)
You must use di (not a) before the infinitive.
Why is there no subject pronoun io before invio?
Italian verbs carry person and number endings, so the subject is implicit.
• Invio already signals “I send.”
You only add io for emphasis (Io invio), but normally it’s dropped.
Could I move prima di iniziare la riunione to the beginning of the sentence?
Yes. Italian allows flexible word order for adverbial or temporal phrases.
Example:
Prima di iniziare la riunione, invio il file via email.
This is perfectly natural and often used.
Why is riunione feminine and why does it take la?
Many Italian nouns ending in -ione are feminine.
• Singular: la riunione
• Plural: le riunioni
Hence you use the feminine article la in front of riunione.