Lesson: 83 Le preposizioni con ANDARE

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1 Lesson: 83 Le preposizioni con ANDARE Prepositions are VERY important! 1) ANDARE needs a preposition Whenever you go to a destination, you need a preposition to tell you that you re going there. 2) In Italian we can use: A, IN, DA When used with ANDARE all three prepositions translate the English to in this context, yet it depends where we are going as to which preposition we will use. But Manu..! How do I know which one to use? Doesn t DA mean from? I know there will be a lot of but s here, but stay with me and by the end of this lesson you should have a more solid understanding of which one to use and when. Basically, here s what we need to know going forward - There are no exact rules (sadly) Well, there are technically rules, but there are so many that you couldn t possibly remember them all! - Some guidelines These will be extremely useful to you, as they will inform you when to use A, IN, or DA, but of course, there are always exceptions! 1

2 - Some fixed expressions Again, very useful as these are expressions that you will be saying a lot, so you don t want to be second-guessing yourself over expressions that are always the same. Using: A - City - Verb - Fixed expressions Andiamo a Roma Vado a Londra Vai a Trastevere? Vado a vedere un film Andiamo a mangiare Vado a Milano Vado a studiare in Italia I m going to Rome I m going to London Are you going to Trastevere? (A suburb) I m going to watch a movie (physically going) We are going to eat (physically going) I m going to Milan I m going to study in Italy ( physically going to Italy to study) Fixed Expressions In English, you say, I m going home and not I m going TO home - there s no preposition. In Italian, we DO use a preposition for this phrase, along with the following, some of which don t use an article, when in English you would. a casa a scuola a lavoro a teatro (to) home to school to work to (the) theatre 2

3 Articulated Prepositions We haven t covered articulated prepositions yet, so no need to feel lost if you re not getting it straightaway. They are essentially a preposition + an article. These are just common fixed expressions which follow that structure using: A + Article al cinema al supermercato al mercato al ristorante all università al mare to the cinema to the supermarket to the market to the restaurant to (the) university to the beach (literally, to the sea) Using: IN - Country - State / Region - Fixed Expressions Vado in Italia Andiamo in Sicilia Venite in Florida? I m going to Italy (country) We are going to Sicily (region) Are you guys going to Florida? (state) 3

4 Expressions in vacanza in spiaggia in montagna in ferie on a holiday / on vacation to the beach to the mountains on holidays (days off work) in + room (or garden/yard) Example Vado in cucina Vai in giardino? Va in piscina I m going to (the) kitchen Are you going to (the) garden? He/She goes to (the) pool In = Into In Italian whenever we say that we go to a building, and what we actually mean is that we are going inside the building, we use the preposition IN to convey the idea of going to/int o. Furthermore, in this case we don t need to use an article. There are, of course, exceptions for buildings which we covered before in fixed expressions for A. Vado in banca Vado in posta Vado in chiesa Vai in palestra Vai in classe I m going to (the) bank I m going to (the) post office I m going to church I m going to (the) gym I m going to class 4

5 Using: da Yes, I know! It literally means from, but when used with ANDARE it means to when the movement is towards a: - person - professional DA is often used with stores. When you go to the chemist, you re actually going to a person - the chemist, even though you mean the chemist store. The same applies for the hairdresser, you say that you are going to the person, not the salon. Vado da Marco Andiamo da Luca e Marta Andate da Mamma? I m going to Marco s (place) We re going to Luca and Marta s (place) Are you guys going to mom s? I know it doesn t make sense in English, but that is just how it is! If you remember it this way then you shouldn t have any problems. Expressions with articulated prepositions As mentioned before with fixed expressions using a + article, the exact same rules apply except this time, we are using: da + article Vado dal dottore...dal parrucchiere...dal farmacista I m going to the doctor to the hairdresser to the pharmacist...dall estetista to the beautician...dallo psicologo...dal meccanico to the psychologist to the mechanic 5

6 Manu s Tips 1) ANDARE must use a preposition! A + city / verb IN + country DA + person But Manu If you ve heard someone say alla banca before, instead of in banca, they would also be right! Don t freak out, let me explain! Basically, the difference between using the preposition A for concepts that usually use IN is as follows: Generic: IN Specific : A + article Vado in banca Vado alla banca I m going to the bank (it could be any bank) I m going to THE bank (most likely your own, a specific bank) One more thing... Why do we say the following, when these are definitely places or buildings we go into? all università al cinema al teatro al corso di italiano to (the) university to the cinema to the theatre to the Italian course These are actually concepts or institutions, rather than a specific place. When we say we go to university, what we actually mean is that we study. The same as for when we say that we go to a 6

7 particular course in something - it s an institution or a concept. Likewise, the opera, cinema and theatre are all art forms or concepts rather than the actual buildings in which they exist. That is, at least in my professional opinion, why I believe there is a discrepancy! Your notes 7