Chinese (Mandarin)

Spanish

English

Hindi

Arabic (Modern Standard)

Portuguese

Bengali

Russian

Japanese

Punjabi

German

Javanese

Malay

Telugu

Vietnamese

Korean

French

Marathi

Tamil

Urdu

Turkish

Italian

Chinese, Yue / Cantonese

Thai

Gujarati

Chinese, Jin

Chinese, Min Nan

Dari

Farsi

Polish

Pashto

Kannada

Chinese, Xiang

Malayalam

Sundanese

Hausa

Odia

Burmese

Chinese, Hakka

Ukrainian

Bihari, Bhojpuri

Tagalog

Yoruba

Bihari, Maithili

Uzbek

Sindhi

Amharic

Fula

Romanian

Oromo

Igbo

Azerbaijani

Chinese, Gan

Dutch

Kurdish, Central

Kurdish, Northern

Kurdish, Southern

Malagasy

Lahnda, Saraiki

Nepali

Sinhalese

Chittagonian

Zhuang

Khmer

Turkmen

Assamese

Madurese

Somali

Marwari

Bihari, Magahi

Haryanvi

Hungarian

Chhattisgarhi

Greek

Chewa

Dakhini

Akan, Twi

Akan, Fante

Kazakh

Chinese, Min Bei

Sylheti

Zulu

Czech

Kinyarwanda

Marwari, Dhundhari

Haitian Creole

Chinese, Min Dong

Ilocano

Quechua

Kirundi

Swedish

Hmong

Shona

Uyghur

Hiligaynon

Mossi

Xhosa

Belarusian

Balochi

### Location and destination

In English, we usually choose our prepositions based on the action: we go *to* a place, but we live *in* a place. In Italian, the preposition you use depends primarily on the *type of place*, rather than the verb. You will use the same preposition whether you are traveling to a location or already there.

### Countries and regions (in)

When talking about countries, continents, or large regions, always use the preposition **in**. This means "in" when talking about location, and "to" when talking about destination.

{{item:804396}}

{{item:804399}}

{{item:804403}}

### Cities and towns (a)

When talking about cities, towns, or small islands, use the preposition **a**. Just like **in**, it covers both location ("in" or "at") and destination ("to").

{{item:804412}}

{{item:804411}}

{{item:804401}}

### Combining cities and countries

When specifying exactly where a city is, or narrowing down a country to a specific city, simply apply the correct preposition to each place name. Use **in** before the country and **a** before the city.

{{item:804391}}

{{item:804394}}

{{item:804404}}

Location and destination (a, in)

adjective

adjective/adverb

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

preposition

pronoun

proper noun

sentence

verb

Subject pronouns and the verb to be (io sono)

Singular definite articles (il, la)

Singular demonstratives (questo, questa)

Basic verbal negation (non)

Yes/No questions

Coordinating conjunctions (e, ma, o)

Regular plurals and definite articles (-i, -e, i, le)

Plural verb to be (noi siamo, voi siete)

Plural demonstratives (questi, queste)

Nouns ending in -e

Special singular articles (lo, l')

The plural article (gli)

Special indefinite articles (uno, un')

Demonstrative adjectives (quello, quella)

Adjective endings (-o, -a, -i, -e)

Expressing quantity (molto, poco, tanto)

The verb to have (ho, hai, ha...)

There is / there are (c'è, ci sono)

The preposition of (di)

Singular possessives (il mio, la mia)

Numbers 1 to 10 (uno, due, tre...)

Numbers 11 to 20 (undici, dodici...)

Numbers 21 to 100 (trenta, quaranta...)

Idiomatic avere (avere fame, avere anni)

Plural possessive adjectives (i miei, le mie)

Possessives with family members (mio padre)

Formal address (dare del Lei)

Present tense of -are verbs (-o, -i, -a)

Question words (chi, cosa, dove)

Present tense of -ere verbs (-o, -i, -e)

Question words (quando, come, perché)

Question word agreement (quanto, quanta, quanti, quante)

Regular -ire verbs

Verbs with -isc- (capisco, capisci, capisce)

Pronouns after prepositions (me, te, lui)

The verb fare (faccio, fai, fa)

The verb andare (vado, vai, va)

The verb stare (sto, stai, sta)

The verb venire (vengo, vieni, viene)

The verb uscire (esco, esci, esce)

Origin and movement (da)

Articulated prepositions with a (al, alla)

Articulated prepositions with in (nel, nella)

Articulated prepositions with di and da (del, dal)

Simple prepositions (con, per, su, tra)

Articulated prepositions with su (sul, sulla)

Months of the year

Telling time (sono le...)

Dates (il + number)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 10th (primo, secondo, terzo...)

The verb to want (volere)

The verb can (potere)

The verb must (dovere)

The verb to know (sapere)

Reflexive verbs (mi lavo, ti lavi)

Indirect object pronouns (gli, le, ci...)

Expressing preferences (mi piace)

Plural preferences (mi piacciono)

Comparatives (più... di, meno... di)

The passato prossimo with avere (ho parlato)

Irregular past participles (fatto, letto, preso)

The passato prossimo with essere (sono andato)

Reflexive verbs in the past (mi sono svegliato)

Time adverbs with the past tense (già, mai, ancora)

Third-person direct object pronouns (lo, la, li, le)

First and second-person direct object pronouns (mi, ti, ci, vi)

The four seasons

Prepositions of place (vicino a, davanti a)

Conversational words (beh, allora, davvero)

Indefinite adjectives for some (qualche, alcuni)

Indefinite adjectives for every and all (ogni, tutti)

Indefinite pronouns (qualcosa, qualcuno)

Noun suffixes (-ino, -one)

Adverbs of manner (-mente)

Comparisons of equality (così... come)

The relative superlative (il più)

The absolute superlative (-issimo)

Irregular comparatives (migliore, peggiore)

Present progressive (stare + -ando, -endo)

Imminent actions (stare per)

The locative pronoun (ci)

The partitive pronoun (ne)

Pronoun placement with modal verbs

Impersonal subjects (si)

Prepositions of time (da, per, tra, fra)

Past participle agreement with pronouns

Past tense of modal verbs

Question	Answer
Italy	l'Italia
Florence	Firenze
I live in Italy, in Florence.	Abito in Italia, a Firenze.
France	la Francia
Paris	Parigi
They are going to France, to Paris.	Vanno in Francia, a Parigi.
Spain	la Spagna
Are you taking a vacation in Spain?	Fai una vacanza in Spagna?
Germany	la Germania
England	l'Inghilterra
Are we going to Germany or to England?	Andiamo in Germania o in Inghilterra?
London	Londra
Are you going out in London tonight?	Uscite a Londra stasera?
Japan	il Giappone
My brother is staying in Japan for a month.	Mio fratello sta in Giappone per un mese.
Marco is going to Rome, in Italy.	Marco va a Roma, in Italia.
Do you prefer to live in Florence or in Paris?	Preferisci abitare a Firenze o a Parigi?
Marco works in England, not in Germany.	Marco lavora in Inghilterra, non in Germania.
I am taking a trip to Spain, not to France.	Faccio un viaggio in Spagna, non in Francia.
London is in England.	Londra è in Inghilterra.
They arrive in Japan today.	Oggi arrivano in Giappone.
Venice	Venezia
We are staying in Venice for the weekend.	Stiamo a Venezia per il fine settimana.
We are going to Venice tomorrow.	Noi andiamo a Venezia domani.
to live (life), to be alive	vivere
I live in Italy.	Vivo in Italia.
My sister lives in London.	Mia sorella vive a Londra.
the car (= la macchina)	l'auto
I am going to Florence by car.	Vado a Firenze in auto.
The car is new.	L'auto è nuova.
the airplane	l'aereo
the ship	la nave
I am going to Paris by plane.	Vado a Parigi in aereo.
The plane is fast, the car is slow.	L'aereo è veloce, l'auto è lenta.
The ship leaves tomorrow.	La nave parte domani.
This year we are going on vacation by ship.	Quest'anno andiamo in vacanza in nave.

Contributors