La pedina cade dalla plancia.

Because both nouns are feminine singular, and Italian normally uses the definite article where English often uses the.

• la pedina = the game piece / pawn / token
• la plancia = the board / playing surface

Italian uses articles very regularly, so having la twice in the same sentence is completely normal.

Dalla is a contraction of da + la.

• da = from
• la = the
• da + la = dalla

This kind of contraction is very common in Italian:

• dal = da + il
• dallo = da + lo
• dai = da + i
• dagli = da + gli
• dalle = da + le

So dalla plancia means from the board.

Cade is the third-person singular present tense of cadere (to fall).

So:

• cadere = infinitive, to fall
• cade = he/she/it falls

Since la pedina is singular, the verb must also be singular:

• La pedina cade = The piece falls

By contrast:

• caduta is usually a past participle or adjective, not the simple present verb form
• cadere is the dictionary form, not the conjugated form used here

Because Italian is a pro-drop language, which means the subject pronoun is often omitted when the verb ending already makes the subject clear.

In English, you need:

• It falls

In Italian, the verb ending often gives enough information:

• cade = falls

And here the noun is already stated:

• La pedina cade

So there is no need to add a separate word for it.

Not necessarily. Pedina can mean several kinds of small playing piece, depending on context.

It can refer to:

• a pawn in chess
• a token
• a counter
• a game piece on a board

So the exact English translation depends on the game or situation. In many learning contexts, game piece is the safest general meaning.

In this sentence, plancia refers to some kind of board, playing surface, or platform-like surface.

The noun plancia can have different meanings in different contexts, such as:

• dashboard
• control panel
• board
• platform

Here, since the sentence involves a pedina, it most naturally suggests a board or game board. So the context is what tells you how to understand plancia.

Yes, but this is the most neutral and natural order:

• subject + verb + prepositional phrase

So:

• La pedina = subject
• cade = verb
• dalla plancia = where it falls from

Italian word order is fairly flexible, but changing it can shift emphasis. For example:

• Dalla plancia cade la pedina = more marked, with emphasis on from the board
• Cade la pedina dalla plancia = possible, but less neutral in everyday explanation

The original version is the simplest standard structure.

A helpful approximation is:

• cade ≈ KAH-deh
• dalla ≈ DAHL-lah

A few pronunciation notes:

• c before a is a hard k sound, so cade starts like ka-
• the final e in cade is pronounced, not silent
• ll in dalla is a normal doubled l sound, held a little longer than in English

So the whole sentence sounds roughly like:

lah peh-DEE-nah KAH-deh DAHL-lah PLAN-chah

Because da is the normal preposition for movement from a place or source.

So:

• cadere da = to fall from

That is why dalla plancia is the natural choice.

Other options would not work the same way:

• di plancia does not mean from the board
• fuori la plancia is not correct standard Italian here

If you wanted to say off the board, Italian often still uses dal/dalla very naturally:

• cade dalla plancia

Yes. There is a difference in aspect.

• cade = falls / is falling in a general or simple present sense
• sta cadendo = is falling right now, with stronger emphasis on the ongoing action

So:

• La pedina cade dalla plancia sounds like a simple statement of what happens
• La pedina sta cadendo dalla plancia focuses more on the action in progress

In many cases, Italian uses the simple present where English might prefer is falling.

Yes, but that changes the tense.

• La pedina cade dalla plancia = The piece falls / is falling from the board
• La pedina è caduta dalla plancia = The piece fell / has fallen from the board

So è caduta is the past tense and describes a completed event, while cade is present.

Also notice that cadere takes essere in compound tenses:

• è caduta for a feminine singular subject like la pedina