The more you practice Italian, the closer you will to mastering the Italian language! Prepositions are essential to learning to communicate in Italian because we use these words in everyday conversation. In this post, you’ll learn about how to Combine Simple Prepositions with Articles.
Sometimes we can’t use simple prepositions but we need PREPOSITIONS combined with articles: PREPOSIZIONI ARTICOLATE.
– Why do you need these propositions?
Because in Italian you need the preposizioni articolate instead of the preposizioni semplici when the preposition is followed by a definite article (il lo la i gli le).
Do you know how to use PREPOSIZIONI ARTICOLATE.? Test what you know with interactive exercises and read the explanation to help you.
Try this exercise to test your grammar.
Preposition DI + Article
SINGULAR
DI + IL ➠ DEL
DI becomes DE, you add the L of the article IL
DI + LO ➠ DELLO
DI becomes DE, you add the L of the article LO and also double the L)
DI + L’ ➠ DELL’
DI becomes DE, you add the L of the article L’ and also double the L)
DI + LA ➠ DELLA
DI becomes DE, you add the L of the article LA and also double the L)
PLURAL
DI + I ➠ DEI
DI becomes DE, you add the I of the article I
DI + GLI ➠ DEGLI
DI becomes DE, you add the GLI of the article GLI)
DI + LE ➠ DELLE
DI becomes DE, you add the L of the article LE and also double the L)
Preposition DA + Article
SINGULAR
DA + IL ➠ DAL
You add the L of the article IL
DA + LO ➠ DALLO
You add the LO of the article LO and also double the L)
DA + L’ ➠ DALL’
You add the L’ of the article L’ and also double the L)
DA + LA ➠ DALLA
You add the LA of the article LA and also double the L)
PLURAL
DA + I ➠ DAI
You add the I of the article I
DA + GLI ➠ DAGLI
You add the GLI of the article GLI)
DA + LE ➠ DELLE
You add the L of the article LE and also double the L)
Preposition A + Article
SINGULAR
A + IL ➠ AL
You add the L of the article IL
A + LO ➠ ALLO
You add the LO of the article LO and also double the L)
A + L’ ➠ ALL’
You add the L’ of the article L’ and also double the L)
A + LA ➠ ALLA
You add the LA of the article LA and also double the L)
PLURAL
A + I ➠ AI
You add the I of the article I
A + GLI ➠ AGLI
You add the GLI of the article GLI)
A + LE ➠ ALLE
You add the L of the article LE and also double the L)
Preposition IN + Article
SINGULAR
IN + IL ➠ NEL
IN becomes NE and you add the L of the article IL
IN + LO ➠ NELLO
IN becomes NE and you add the LO of the article LO and also double the L)
IN + L’ ➠ NELL’
IN becomes NE and you add the L’ of the article L’ and also double the L)
IN + LA ➠ NELLA
IN becomes NE and you add the LA of the article LA and also double the L)
PLURAL
IN + I ➠ NEI
IN becomes NE and you add the I of the article I
IN + GLI ➠ NEGLI
IN becomes NE and you add the GLI of the article GLI)
IN + LE ➠ NELLE
IN becomes NE and you add the L of the article LE and also double the L)
Preposition SU + Article
SINGULAR
SU + IL ➠ SUL
You add the L of the article IL
SU + LO ➠ SULLO
You add the LO of the article LO and also double the L)
SU + L’ ➠ SULL’
You add the L’ of the article L’ and also double the L)
SU + LA ➠ SULLA
You add the LA of the article LA and also double the L)
PLURAL
Prepositions CON / TRA-FRA / PER + Articles
Prepositions CON / TRA-FRA / PER does not join the article.
Mainly in the past, Con gave the option of using the preposizione articolata (especially the forms col and coi). Still, now we usually prefer to use the preposition and the article separately.
Tra/fra and PER do not form preposizioni articolate.
Preposition CON + Article
CON Singular
CON Plural
Preposition PER + Article
PER Singular
PER Plural
Preposition FRA + Article
FRA Singular
FRA Plural
Preposition TRA + Article
TRA Singular
TRA Plural
When do you need these Prepositions?
To use Preposizioni Articolate correctly you need to know:
✎ Examples:
Il libro di Carlo ⇒ (lit) the book of Carlo.
Here we use a simple preposition because “Carlo” it’s a proper name.
⚠️ You don’t need the article before “Carlo“
For this reason, we used the preposizione semplice in the example before:
di Carlo
Il libro dell’insegnante ⇒ (lit.) the book of the teacher.
Here we use a simple preposition (di) with an article (l’)because “insegnante” is a common name.
⚠️ You need the article before “insegnante” ➠ l’insegnante
For this reason, we used the preposizione articolata in the example before:
dell‘insegnante
You may be interested in:
🔗 How to use Articles with Geographic Words in Italian
To learn when to use the article with some types of names
✎ More Examples:
With Articles:
- all’insegnante (with common nouns)
- agli studenti (with plural common nouns)
- alla scuola Orazio (specifying which particular school so as to give specific information)
- alle 9 (with numbers: hours, years, percentage)
Without Articles
- a mio fratello (with possessive adjectives + noun of relatives in the singular))
- a Maria(with the first name)
- a Roma (with city names)
Combining Italian simple prepositions with articles requires a good understanding of the rules and a bit of practice. With these guidelines and some effort, you can easily master the art of combining prepositions and articles, improving your ability to write and speak Italian fluently and correctly.
What’s next?
You might want to keep learning Italian online with these free resources:
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