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When to Use the Prepositions ‘A’, ‘In’ and ‘Da’ in Italian

February 11, 2013 By Cher 16 Comments

There are plenty of pesky prepositions in the Italian language.

Plenty of them that you’ll curse on the daily when you’re inevitably in Italy.

But today, we’re going to focus on two of them in the specific situation of location.

Should I use ‘A’, ‘In’, or ‘Da’ for this location!?

Okay, let’s break it down.

When to Use the Prepositions 'A', 'In' and 'Da' in Italian

Here’s when you would use ‘a’: cities & before the nouns (casa, scuola, teatro, piedi, letto, and tavola)

– Exceptions: a Taiwan, a Cuba

Here’s when you would use ‘in’: regions, large islands, countries, states, continents, and before nouns (classes, biblioteca, ufficio, chiesa, città, vacanza, montagna, e campagna).

– Large islands: Sicilia and Sardegnia

Ciao - Agur - Adios - Good Bye - Sicilia

[photo credit: Eduardo Arostogui]

Here’s when you would use ‘da’: talk about a home or where someone works, referring to where someone comes from with a city or a province.

Esempi

– Viviamo a Cuba. – We live in Cuba.
– Vivo in Europa. – I live in Europe.
– Vado a letto. – I’m going to bed.
– Vorrei andare in montagna! – I would like to go to the mountains.
– Sono andata in chiesa a Las Vegas ieri mattina. – I went to church in Las Vegas yesterday morning.
– Vengo da Viterbo. – I’m from Viterbo.

Viterbo

[photo credit: Cristiano Marchese]

– Vado da Luca. – I’m going to Luca’s house.
– Partiamo da Napoli. – We’re leaving from Naples.

Napoli

[photo credit: Giuliano Longone]

There are pools and pools of other uses for ‘a’, ‘in’ and ‘da’, but we’ll take them step by step, so you can get this rule stuck in your mind first.

Now, in the comments below, tell me one city, one continent, one country, and one region in Italy that you want to go to….in Italian. :]

Start with, “Prima o poi, andrò … “

[‘Prima o poi’ is an expression that implies you’re not sure of when in the future, but it literally means ‘Before or then’.]

Want to learn about the other prepositions in Italian, too?

Read this article: Simple Prepositions in Italian {or Why the Smallest Words Hurt the Most}

Questions/Comments? Drop ’em below.

Filed Under: Beginner Italian, Grammar, Italian Tagged With: Beginner Italian, italian, italian grammar

About Cher

Cher is the founder of The Iceberg Project and a passionate learner of the Italian, Mandarin and Spanish languages. In a little town called Vegas, you can find her searching the Internet for Doctor Who and Parks & Rec memes, drinking bubble tea, or talking about how much she loves grammar.

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Comments

  1. Sharon Oldham says

    August 8, 2013 at 10:22 am

    Prima o poi, andro a Buenos Aires in Argentina, in Sud Americam ed anche in Puglia!

    Reply
    • cherhale says

      August 12, 2013 at 2:59 pm

      Grazie per il tuo risposto!

      Reply
  2. Jan Bradley says

    November 8, 2013 at 11:33 pm

    Hi Cher, I have read this a few times, but I always get more out of it each time I read it! Thank-you!

    Reply
    • cherhale says

      November 13, 2013 at 10:17 pm

      That’s great to hear! It’s an easy rule to forget if you don’t use it often.

      Reply
  3. Reesa Del Duca says

    September 17, 2014 at 10:31 am

    Prima o poi, andrò a Parigi in Francia, e in Sud America. Anche andrò a Toscana.

    Reply
    • cherhale says

      September 19, 2014 at 11:58 pm

      Brava! *Anche andrò in Toscana. :]

      Reply
      • Reesa Del Duca says

        September 20, 2014 at 9:03 am

        Aha, si. Andrò in Toscana. 🙂

        Reply
  4. Ben says

    November 4, 2014 at 9:26 pm

    Prima o poi, andrò a Cagliari in Sardegna. Anche andrò a Cape Town in Sud Africa. Un giorno andrò in Sud America.

    Reply
    • cherhale says

      November 8, 2014 at 5:31 pm

      Bravo, Ben!

      Reply
  5. Kathleen says

    December 17, 2015 at 3:07 pm

    vorrei andare a Roma!

    Reply
    • Cher says

      December 18, 2015 at 3:10 pm

      Brava! Anche io. :]

      Reply

Trackbacks

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