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When talking about timelines, life milestones, or how long things take, Italian uses three key prepositions of time: **da**, **per**, and **tra/fra**. Your choice depends on whether the action is ongoing, completed, or happening in the future.

### Ongoing actions with "da"

Use **da** for an action that started in the past and is *still happening* right now. In English, we usually use the present perfect ("have been doing" or "have lived") for this, but Italian simply uses the present tense.

**Da** can translate to either "for" (an amount of time) or "since" (a starting point).

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### Completed durations with "per"

When an action lasted for a certain amount of time but is now *completely finished*, use **per**. It translates to "for" and is typically used with a past tense, like the *passato prossimo*.

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### Future events with "tra" and "fra"

To express when something will happen in the future, use **tra** or **fra**. Both translate to "in" (as in "in a week" or "in an hour"). 

They are identical in meaning and completely interchangeable.

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

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)

Location and destination (a, in)

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)

Past participle agreement with pronouns

Past tense of modal verbs

Question	Answer
since, for (duration)	da
century	il secolo
I have lived here for a century!	Abito qui da un secolo!
birth	la nascita
We have been waiting for the birth for a month.	Aspettiamo la nascita da un mese.
childhood	l'infanzia
I have known him since childhood.	Lo conosco dall'infanzia.
adult	adulto
I have been an adult for ten years.	Sono adulto da dieci anni.
to last	durare
The meeting has been going on for two hours.	La riunione dura da due ore.
It has been raining since yesterday.	Piove da ieri.
retirement	la pensione
He waited for retirement for ten years.	Lui ha aspettato la pensione per dieci anni.
to move (relocate)	trasferirsi
I moved to Rome for a year.	Mi sono trasferito a Roma per un anno.
I played for my whole childhood.	Ho giocato per tutta la mia infanzia.
We traveled for a month.	Abbiamo viaggiato per un mese.
He slept for a century!	Ha dormito per un secolo!
career	la carriera
He worked here for his whole career.	Ha lavorato qui per tutta la sua carriera.
I studied in Rome for three years.	Ho studiato a Roma per tre anni.
in (after a period of time)	tra
The birth is in a month.	La nascita è tra un mese.
university degree	la laurea
I am getting my degree in a week.	Prendo la laurea fra una settimana.
The meeting starts in an hour.	La riunione inizia tra un'ora.
I will return shortly.	Torno fra poco.
We are moving to France in three days.	Ci trasferiamo in Francia tra tre giorni.
She starts working in two days.	Inizia a lavorare fra due giorni.
to continue	continuare
His career has been continuing for ten years.	La sua carriera continua da dieci anni.
The graduation party lasted for three hours.	La festa di laurea è durata per tre ore.
The adult man continues the project in a month.	L'uomo adulto continua il progetto fra un mese.
The professor retires in two years.	Il professore va in pensione tra due anni.
I have been working here for two years.	Lavoro qui da due anni.
The marriage lasted for ten years.	Il matrimonio è durato per dieci anni.
The train arrives in five minutes.	Il treno arriva fra cinque minuti.
They leave in a week.	Loro partono tra una settimana.
until, up to (fino a)	fino
I work until midnight.	Lavoro fino a mezzanotte.
I slept until noon.	Ho dormito fino a mezzogiorno.
elderly	anziano
My neighbor is elderly but very kind.	Il mio vicino è anziano ma molto gentile.
My grandmother is elderly but lives on her own.	Mia nonna è anziana ma vive da sola.
by now, at this point	ormai
By now I am an adult and I work.	Ormai sono adulto e lavoro.
It is late: by now the train has left.	È tardi: ormai il treno è partito.

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