Nel frigorifero tengo l’anguria per la merenda di domani.

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Breakdown of Nel frigorifero tengo l’anguria per la merenda di domani.

• di: of
• per: for
• domani: tomorrow

Questions & Answers about Nel frigorifero tengo l’anguria per la merenda di domani.

What does nel frigorifero mean, and why isn’t it written as in il frigorifero?

nel is the contraction of the preposition in + the definite article il, so nel frigorifero literally means in the refrigerator. In Italian, certain prepositions merge with the masculine singular definite article:

• in + il → nel
• a + il → al
• di + il → del
• su + il → sul

What does tengo mean here, and what is its infinitive form?

tengo is the first-person singular present indicative of the verb tenere, which means to keep, to hold, or to store. In this sentence, tengo translates as “I keep” (i.e. “I store”).

Why is there an apostrophe in l’anguria, and could I say la anguria instead?

The apostrophe marks an elision: the vowel a in la (the feminine singular article) is dropped before another vowel. So:

• la + anguria → l’anguria
  You cannot say la anguria in standard Italian; you must use l’anguria to avoid a vowel clash.

Why use the definite article with anguria? Could I say instead?