Preposizioni, Italian prepositions: a nearly complete guide.

Italian prepositions are challenging. Hopefully, some simple examples will help you


Prepositions VS Conjunctions

Italian simple prepositions are eight, usually taught in the following order :

DI – A- DA- IN- CON -SU -PER -TRA/FRA

The role of prepositions in a sentence is to introduce some information attached to a verb or a noun, and explain their function, in the form of a “complemento”. Complements “complete” the sense of a sentence, so changing a simple preposition can change the meaning of a phrase. For example:

  • Ho appena parlato di Mario. I’ve just talked about Mario.
  • Ho appena parlato con Mario. I’ve just talked to Mario.

The first is a “complemento di argomento”, so the Mario was the topic of the conversation. The second is a “complemento di compagnia”, because I shared the action (parlare) with Mario.

Today’s lesson is not about complementi, however, we will use them to explain the different functions of every single preposition. Read and listen to the examples. Solve the quiz at he bottom of this page.


Preposizioni, Italian prepositions: a nearly complete guide.


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Riccardo
Milanese, graduated in Italian literature a long time ago, I began teaching Italian online in Japan back in 2003. I usually spend winter in Tokyo and go back to Italy when the cherry blossoms shed their petals. I do not use social media.

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Joe
Joe
1 year ago

Great article! I still am a little confused on when to use di vs su for a topic. Clearly you use di for parlare. But when the topic is a book, article, course, etc., I sometimes see di and other times su and haven’t discovered the pattern. Are there any guidelines on this?
Thanks

paolina
paolina
3 years ago

the examples were very useful and helped me further understand the concepts.

Joanna Rosinska
Joanna Rosinska
3 years ago

Grazie Riccardo. Il tuo blog e’ molto utile

Joanna Rosinska
Joanna Rosinska
3 years ago

Grazie, RIccardo per aver spieghato le preposizioni. Non e’ un argomanto diretto per me.

Davide
Davide
3 years ago

Mi piace questo. Gli spiegazioni sono chiari. E’ molto utile.

Marta
Marta
3 years ago

Riccardo, can you explain to me one doubt:

Why there is ‘piatti in ceramica’ but ‘bicchieri di cristallo’?

Marta
Marta
3 years ago

Thanks Ricardo, it’s exactly what I was looking for! (long way to go for myself)

Anne
Anne
3 years ago

Madonna ! tante cose da ricordare!! Non ci riuscirò mai!!

Bonita Lubinsky
Bonita Lubinsky
7 years ago

Bello, Riccardo! Grazie mille!
Sto sequendo un corso d’italiano qui a New York addesso. Sarò in contatto ancora più tardi, se vada bene per te.
Saluti, Bonita

Don`t copy text!