Learn Italian: Domani passiamo da un amico. - Tomorrow we are dropping by a friend's.

Domani passiamo da un amico.

Tomorrow we are dropping by a friend's.

Breakdown of Domani passiamo da un amico.

a / an (masculine)

l'amico

the friend

from, at (someone's place) / by (oneself), on one's own

domani

tomorrow

Questions & Answers about Domani passiamo da un amico.

Why does the sentence use da here? Doesn't it usually mean from?

While da often means from, it has a special rule when going to or staying at a person's place. When you move towards a person or their home, you must use da instead of a (to). So da un amico means to a friend's place.

The translation says we are dropping by, but isn't passiamo in the present tense?

Yes, passiamo is the present tense of passare. Just like in English, Italians frequently use the present tense to talk about firm plans in the near future. The word domani (tomorrow) makes it clear when the action is happening.

How do we get dropping by from the verb passare?

The literal meaning of passare is to pass. However, the phrase passare da followed by a person is a very common Italian expression that means to drop by, to swing by, or to pay a brief visit to that person's place.

Since amico starts with a vowel, why don't we use un' with an apostrophe?

The apostrophe is only used for feminine words that start with a vowel, like un'amica (a female friend). Because amico is a masculine word, it takes the standard masculine article un with no apostrophe.