Breakdown of Oggi vado al parco con il cane.
il cane
the dog
oggi
today
il parco
the park
con
with
andare
to go / to be fine / to work out
a
to / at
Questions & Answers about Oggi vado al parco con il cane.
Why is it al parco instead of just a parco or a il parco?
In Italian, when the preposition a (to/at) is followed by a definite article like il (the), they combine into one word. Since parco is a masculine singular noun starting with a consonant, it uses the article il. a + il merges to become the articulated preposition al (to the).
Why is there no word for 'I' before vado?
In Italian, subject pronouns like io (I) are usually dropped. The verb form vado already specifically means 'I go' (it is the 'I' form of the irregular verb andare), so adding io isn't necessary unless you want to emphasize who is doing the action.
Can vado mean 'I am going' as well as 'I go'?
Yes! In Italian, the present tense covers both the simple present ('I go') and the present continuous ('I am going') in English. So, Oggi vado al parco translates perfectly to both 'Today I go to the park' and 'Today I am going to the park'.
How do I know to use il with cane if it ends in -e?
While it is a helpful rule that words ending in -o are usually masculine and -a are feminine, words ending in -e can be either masculine or feminine. cane (dog) happens to be a masculine word, so it takes the masculine article il. For nouns ending in -e, you just have to memorize their gender when you learn them!
Learn Oggi vado al parco con il cane and more in Italian
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free