Breakdown of Marco va a Roma, in Italia.
in
in / made of (material)
Marco
Marco
Roma
Rome
andare
to go / to be fine / to work out
a
to / at
l'Italia
Italy
Questions & Answers about Marco va a Roma, in Italia.
Why does the sentence use a before Rome but in before Italy?
In Italian, the preposition you choose for a location depends on the type of place. You use a before the names of cities (like a Roma or a Londra). You use in before the names of countries, continents, and regions (like in Italia or in Europa).
Since va means "is going," shouldn't there be a specific preposition that just means "to"?
Italian doesn't have a single preposition that always translates to "to." Instead, prepositions like a and in are used for both location (being somewhere) and destination (going somewhere). Whether you are going to Rome or staying in Rome, you use a Roma. The verb va is what tells us Marco is currently traveling there.
Countries usually have "the" in front of them, like l'Italia. Why is it just in Italia without the article here?
While it's true that countries usually need a definite article (the word for "the"), there is a special exception. When you use the preposition in to say you are going to or are located inside a country, you drop the article. So it becomes simply in Italia.
What is the base form (infinitive) of the verb va?
Va (he/she goes) comes from the irregular verb andare, which means "to go." Because it is highly irregular, its present tense forms (like io vado, tu vai, and lui/lei va) look quite different from the base verb and just need to be memorized.
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