Learn Italian: Oggi non vado alla posta. - Today I am not going to the post office.

Oggi non vado alla posta.

Today I am not going to the post office.

Breakdown of Oggi non vado alla posta.

to go / to be fine / to work out

alla

to the / at the (feminine singular)

Questions & Answers about Oggi non vado alla posta.

The word "vado" looks completely different from its dictionary form "andare". Is this normal?

Yes, andare (to go) is a highly irregular verb. The "I" form is vado. You just have to memorize these irregular forms because they do not follow the normal -are ending rules you have learned so far.

The English translation says "I am not going", but isn't vado just "I go"?

In Italian, the simple present tense covers both "I go" and "I am going". So non vado can mean "I do not go" or "I am not going" depending on what makes sense in the context. Here, "Today I am not going" sounds the most natural in English.

Where is the word for "I" in this sentence?

In Italian, the subject pronoun io (I) is usually dropped. The verb form vado already tells us exactly who is going, so you do not need to say io non vado unless you really want to emphasize that it is you who is not going.

In English, the negative word comes after the verb ("I am not going"). Why is non placed before vado?

In Italian, making a sentence negative is very simple: you always put non directly in front of the verb. So "I am not going" or "I do not go" is simply non vado.

Why do we say alla posta instead of just or ?