When you’re travelling around Italy, there are some words you’ll use all the time.
In nearly every sentence in fact!
Words like “to”, “in” and “on” are essential for talking about where you’re going and where things are.
But in Italian, they’re a bit tricky because they hook up with other words. Teachers and grammarians call these “articulated prepositions”.
Here, you’ll learn how to use these words in a natural way to help you feel confident talking about everyday stuff in Italian.
But perhaps most importantly…
What the heck is an articulated preposition?
Don’t worry, they’re not as complicated as the name sounds! Let’s take it step by step.
Look at the Italian phrases below. How many words do we use to say “at the”?
Al supermercato – At the supermarket
Al cinema – At the cinema
That’s right, it’s one word! Well, technically, two words are smushed together to make one:
a – at
il – the
al – at the
The technical term for this is “articulated prepositions''. It’s made up of two other nerdy words:
- Prepositions: words like “at”, “in” and “on” that tell us the direction or position of something.
- Articles: in this case the word “the”
First, let’s take a closer look at each of these in turn, then you’ll learn how to smush them together just like Italians do!
Italian Prepositions: a, da, su, di, in
These are the little words that tell us about direction or position. The ones you’ll need for this lesson are:
a – at/to
da – from
su – on
di – of
in – in
Let’s see some examples:
Sono a casa – I’m at home
Ciao da Milano! – Hi from Milan!
Il tuo passaporto è su quel tavolo – Your passport is on that table
Un bicchiere di vino – A glass of wine
Sei in città? – Are you in town?
To learn more about these, head over to our lesson on Italian prepositions made simple.
Now we’ve got our prepositions. To make “articulated prepositions”, we’ll need our articles, too…
Italian Articles: How to Say “The”
Remember that here, “article” is just a fancy way of saying “the”. Italians happen to have a lot of ways to say “the”. Seven in fact!
If you haven’t seen them yet or you need a little refresher, here they are:
The simple(ish) ones
il cappuccino – the cappuccino (il for masculine words)
i cappuccini – the cappuccinos (i for masculine plurals)
la pizza – the pizza (la for feminine words)
le pizze – the pizzas (le for feminine plurals)
l’insalata – the salad (l’ for singular words that start with a vowel)
The weird ones
lo studente – the student (lo for masculine words starting with s + consonant, z, ps, y)
gli studenti – the students (gli for masculine plurals starting with s + consonant, z, ps, y)
To learn more about how to say “the” in Italian, watch this fun video on Italian articles.
Now you’ve got the prepositions, and you’ve got the articles. All you need to do is smush them together and ta-da! You know Italian articulated prepositions….
How we smush them together
Take a quick look at some of the phrases below. Can you get a sense of how prepositions combine with the Italian word for “the”?
Al supermercato – At the supermarket
Alla cassa – At the till
Sul tavolo – On the table
Sulla scrivania – On the desk
To see how these work in more detail, here’s a big scary-looking table for you! Don’t let it intimidate you. If you look closely, you’ll see that most of the combinations follow similar patterns…
| il | i | la | le | l’ | lo | gli | |
| a | al | ai | alla | alle | all’ | allo | agli |
| da | dal | dai | dalla | dalle | dall’ | dallo | dagli |
| su | sul | sui | sulla | sulle | sull’ | sullo | sugli |
| di | del | dei | della | delle | dell’ | dello | degli |
| in | nel | nei | nella | nelle | nell’ | nello | negli |
There are a couple of weird bits, and we’ll explain those in the next section.
For now, don’t worry about memorising everything like the periodic table in highschool chemistry class. Instead, use it for reference and come back to it little and often.
The most effective way to learn these is by seeing them in action! Focus on sentences you might hear and use in conversation, just like these:
Andiamo al ristorante. – We’re going to the restaurant
Diamo una mancia ai camerieri? – Shall we give a tip to the waiters?
A che ora arriviamo all'aeroporto? – What time do we arrive at the airport?
Sono sul treno – I’m on the train
Matteo non vuole l’ananas sulla pizza! – Matteo doesn’t want pineapple on the pizza!
You’ll find more tips on how to remember articulated prepositions towards the end of this article.
The ones to watch out for: di and in
From the table above, you can see that articles and prepositions combine in a fairly regular way. But there are a couple of odd details to look out for.
First, let’s zoom in on our last two rows:
| il | i | la | le | l’ | lo | gli | |
| di | del | dei | della | delle | dell’ | dello | degli |
| in | nel | nei | nella | nelle | nell’ | nello | negli |
Why does di change? And what the heck happens to in?!! These two prepositions change when we combine them:
di becomes de-
in becomes ne-
If we maintained the original word and sound, we’d end up with combos that don’t work in Italian.
For example, if we combined di with i, we’d end up with dii, which looks and sounds a bit strange in Italian. And we might confuse some of the other combos with unrelated expressions that sound similar.
If we combined in with gli, we’d get ingli. This would give us lots of consonants in a row which is very different to how Italian usually sounds. We need lots of vowels to keep that beautiful musical quality!
For now, just remember to always change di to de- and in to ne- before you combine them.
Common mistakes to avoid
Nearly there! Just a couple more details to pay attention to if you want to say them like an Italian would.
First, look at the phrases below. What do you notice about the letter L?
Dalla gelateria – From the gelato shop
Nello zaino – In the backpack
Nella borsa – In the bag
When the Italian word for “the” starts with the letter l, like la, le, l’ and lo, we double it up. Let’s see how that works again:
| la | le | l’ | lo | |
| a | alla | alle | all’ | allo |
| da | dalla | dalle | dall’ | dallo |
| su | sulla | sulle | sull’ | sullo |
| di | della | delle | dell’ | dello |
| in | nella | nelle | nell’ | nello |
And remember, Italians pronounce double letters, so you can really take your time saying the double L! Let’s practice with a couple more phrases:
– All’albergo – At the hotel
– Nella piazza – In the square
Next, avoid common mistakes like this one:
❌Vivo in il centro della città – I live in the centre of the city
Remember, we always combine the prepositions and articles you’ve seen in today’s lesson. So how should you say the sentence above?
If you said nel, that’s corretto!
✅Vivo nel centro della città – I live in the centre of the city
Finally, let’s look at a really tricky, but really important example! If you live in the United States, it’s essential that you learn this one.
In Italian, we say:
Gli Stati Uniti – The United States
Here are a couple of important combos to learn:
Negli Stati Uniti – In the United States
Dagli Stati Uniti – From the United States
Avoid saying *In i Stati Uniti or *Dai Stati Uniti, as these phrases are incorrect.
Now you know the important details about articulated prepositions in Italian. Next, let’s focus on remembering them so you can use them in conversation!
How to remember articulated prepositions
That big table of articulated prepositions can feel quite overwhelming at first. It’s handy for reference, but please, don’t obsess over it.
The best way to learn is with real-life examples. You’ll be more likely to use them in real conversation and they’re more meaningful, which makes them easier to remember.
There are two important parts to this technique: noticing and practising.
As you read and listen to Italian, try to notice articulated prepositions being used. For example, if you come across the phrase nella borsa (in the bag), take a second to figure out the logic…
Ne comes from “in” and la means “the” for feminine things like la borsa. “In” becomes “ne”... Ah OK! So that’s why we say “nella”.
Then try using them as much as you can. For example, you can create sentences about your everyday life, such as:
– Prendo una birra dal frigo. – I take a beer from the refrigerator.
– Stasera vado al ristorante. – This evening I’m going to the restaurant.
Finally, remember, these little words are everywhere, so as you practise your Italian, you’ll get plenty of chances to pick them up.
And it’s time to say congratulazioni! You now know how articulated prepositions work, and how to remember them over time.
Let’s do a quick review, before moving onto our quiz and vocabulary cards.
Italian Articulated Prepositions: Review
In Italian, when we have a preposition like a (at) or su (on) followed by the word “the”, we smush them together, like this:
Al supermercato – At the supermarket
Alla cassa – At the till
Sul tavolo – On the table
Sulla scrivania – On the desk
In this table, you can find all the combinations to review:
| il | i | la | le | l’ | lo | gli | |
| a | al | ai | alla | alle | all’ | allo | agli |
| da | dal | dai | dalla | dalle | dall’ | dallo | dagli |
| su | sul | sui | sulla | sulle | sull’ | sullo | sugli |
| di | del | dei | della | delle | dell’ | dello | degli |
| in | nel | nei | nella | nelle | nell’ | nello | negli |
The best way to remember them is in everyday sentences, for example:
Andiamo al ristorante. – We’re going to the restaurant
Diamo una mancia ai camerieri? – Shall we give a tip to the waiters?
A che ora arriviamo all'aeroporto? – What time do we arrive at the airport?
Sono sul treno – I’m on the train
Matteo non vuole l’ananas sulla pizza – Matteo doesn’t want pineapple on the pizza
As you hear and read Italian, try noticing them being used and figuring out the logic behind the combinations. And practise using them in sentences to talk about your everyday life.
Italian Articulated Prepositions: Quiz and Vocabulary Cards
Time to check your understanding and remember everything you just learned! Below you’ll find a mini-quiz and some vocabulary cards to help it all go in.
Quiz
How much did you learn? Find out in the quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: Italian Articulated Prepositions
Vocabulary
Siamo andati al supermercato = we went to the supermarket
Alla cassa = at the till
Forse è nella valigia = maybe it’s in the suitcase
Nel frigo = in the refrigerator
È sul tavolo = it’s on the table
Sulla scrivania = on the desk
Gli Stati Uniti = the United States
Negli Stati Uniti = in the United States
Flashcards: Italian Articulated Prepositions
Remember the vocabulary from this lesson by downloading the digital flashcards
Not sure how it works? Click here to watch the tutorial
Transcript: Al, del, sul... Italian Articulated Prepositions Made Simple
Please note, this is not a word for word transcript.
K: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti! Hi everyone and welcome to “Learn Italian with Joy of Languages”.
M: Hold on a minute Katie, let’s start with the most important thing. What the heck is an articulated preposition?!?!
K: Yes I’m sorry. I don’t know why we need such scary words to talk about grammar. Basically, to say “to the”, Italians smush these words together to make one word. For example, how would you say “I go to the supermarket”?
M: Vado al supermercato (x2)
K: The al you hear is made up of two words. A which means “to” and il which means “the”.
Little words like a are called “prepositions”. They tell us about the direction or position of something. And il is an article. It’s the fancy grammatical term for the word “the”. So when Italians smush together a preposition, like a and an article, like il, that’s called an articulated preposition.
But you don’t need to worry about fancy grammar words! The most important thing is to learn how to use them in everyday conversations, which you’ll do today.
M: Before we get started, it’s important to have a solid understanding of Italian prepositions, those little words like a and in. You can learn more in episode 113.
K: And also the different ways to say “the” in Italian, which you’ll find in episodes 64 to 66.
M: Speaking of finding things, Katie is terrible at that! Let’s listen to today’s conversation. How many articulated prepositions, like al can you hear?
K: Matteo dov’è il mio passaporto?
M: Non è qui?!
K: No.
M: Allora… stamattina siamo andati al bar, poi al supermercato… non dirmi che hai lasciato il passaporto alla cassa!
K: No! Forse è nella valigia? O nel frigo!
M: Ah! È qui, sul tavolo.
K: Let’s break that down. I asked Matteo:
M: Dov’è il mio passaporto? – Where’s my passport?
dove – where
è – is
il mio – my
passaporto – passport
M: Non è qui?! – It’s not here?
non – not
è – it is
qui – here
K: I say no, so Matteo starts to think.
M: Allora… – Well
Stamattina siamo andati al bar – This morning we went to the café.
Stamattina – this morning
Siamo andati – we went
Al – to the
Bar – in Italian, when we say “bar”, we mean a coffee shop, or a café.
K: Here’s our first articulated preposition. Remember, in Italian, this just means we smush together words like “to” and “the”. A, which means “to”, hooks onto il from il bar (the bar). So we get al. To the bar:
M: Al bar (x2)
K: Then Matteo says:
M: Poi al supermercato… – Then to the supermarket…
Poi – then
Al – to the
Supermercato - supermarket
K: Here again, a (to) combines with il from il supermercato. To the supermarket:
M: Al supermercato (x2)
K: Matteo, starts to get a bit worried. Rightly so, if you knew all the scares we’ve had with my passport.
M: Non dirmi che hai lasciato il passaporto alla cassa! – Don’t tell me you left your passport at the till!
non – not
dirmi – tell me
che – that
hai – you have
lasciato – left
il passaporto – the passport
alla cassa – at the till!
K: Here, cassa (till) is feminine, so we say la cassa. A means both “to” and “at”. So to say “at the”, in this case, a (at) combines with la (the) and we get alla. At the till:
M: Alla cassa (x2)
K: When the word for “the” starts with an L, like la, we double up the LL. So we get A–L-L-A. Double letters should be nice and long in Italian. Alla.
M: Alla. Alla. Alla cassa.
K: Then I say:
M: No! Forse è nella valigia? – No! Maybe it’s in the suitcase?
Forse – maybe
È – it’s
Nella – in the
Valigia – suitcase
K: Here, “in the” becomes nella. What’s going on?! In Italian, to say “in”, it’s usually the same: in. But when it combines, we get ne. There’s a reason for this. If we said “inla”, we’d have N plus L, a funny combination of consonants that simply doesn’t exist in Italian. So when in combines, we change it to ne. Here it’s followed by la, so we double up the L. Nella. In the suitcase:
M: Nella valigia (x2)
K: We hear another example in the next sentence:
M: O nel frigo! – Or in the refrigerator?
O – or
Nel – in the
Frigo – refrigerator
M: It’s possible that Katie could leave her passport in the refrigerator. I’ve seen her try to put other strange things in there by accident.
K: And how did we say “in the refrigerator”? As we know, in becomes ne when it combines. Here, ne combines with il from il frigo (the refrigerator). Ne plus il becomes nel. In the refrigerator:
M: Nel frigo (x2)
K: Luckily, Matteo finds it in an easy place, which also happens a lot!
M: Ah! È qui, sul tavolo. – Ah! It’s here, on the table.
È – it’s
Qui – here
Sul – on the
Tavolo – table
K: And here, we’ve got a different preposition. This time “su”, which means “on”. It combines with il from il tavolo (the table) and we get sul. On the table:
M: Sul tavolo (x2)
K: Let’s review the articulated prepositions you heard in the conversation. Can you remember them? We had “to the café”, literally “to the bar”
M: Al bar (x2)
K: To the supermarket
M: Al supermercato (x2)
K: At the till
M: Alla cassa (x2)
K: In the suitcase. Remember in becomes ne when it combines:
M: Nella valigia (x2)
K: In the refrigerator:
M: Nel frigo (x2)
K: On the table
M: Sul tavolo (x2)
K: Let’s listen to the whole conversation again.
K: Matteo dov’è il mio passaporto?
M: Non è qui?!
K: No.
M: Allora… stamattina siamo andati al bar, poi al supermercato… non dirmi che hai lasciato il passaporto alla cassa!
K: No! Forse è nella valigia? O nel frigo!
M: Ah! È qui, sul tavolo.
M: There are a few more words like this that work in the same way, and you can learn how to use all of them together over on our blog.
K: You’ll also see everything written down, and get bonus materials, like vocabulary cards and a quiz to help it all sink in. You’ll find the link in the description.
M - See you next time.
K - Or as we say in Italian.
Alla prossima!
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