English speakers usually learn Italian prepositions through translation, and that is where problems start: da can mean "from", "by", "since", "for", or "at someone's place", depending on the sentence. This 17-page guide takes the opposite approach. It gives each main preposition its own section and lists its uses one by one, with three short examples for each.

The guide also includes tables for place and time, verb-plus-preposition lists, an answer key, and two extra challenge exercises.

One preposition, several jobs

The core of the guide is sections 2 to 6. A summary of the uses it describes:

Preposition	Uses covered	Examples
di	possession, origin, material, topic, partitive	la macchina di Paolo, un anello d'oro, bevo del caffè
a	destination, cities, clock time, indirect object, manner	vivo a Firenze, alle otto, fatto a mano
da	origin, passive agent, purpose, duration, someone's place	scritto da Dante, scarpe da tennis, sono da Maria
in	countries and regions, transport, seasons and years, language	in Toscana, in treno, nel 2020, scritto in italiano
con, su, per, tra / fra	company, topic, approximate amount, duration, future time	sui trent'anni, per tre ore, tra un'ora

The da section is especially useful because English has no single equivalent. Una macchina da corsa describes what the car is for, Studio italiano da tre anni describes something still going on, and Ceniamo dai nonni means dinner at the grandparents' house.

Where and when: two quick tables

Section 8 separates static location from movement. With cities you use a (Sono a Roma, Vado a Milano) and with countries and regions in (Vivo in Francia, Vado in Spagna), whether or not you are moving. The table adds positional expressions that take a second preposition, such as davanti a, accanto a, vicino a, and lontano da.

Section 9 does the same for time and includes a detail that is easy to miss: days of the week and dates take no preposition at all (lunedì, il 5 maggio), while clock times, months, years, and holidays do.

In an hour or in an hour's time

Two time expressions translate as "in" but mean different things:

In + time tells you how long something takes: Finisco in un'ora (I'll get it done within an hour).
Tra / fra + time tells you when something will happen from now: Arrivo tra un'ora (I'll arrive an hour from now).

Along with per for a completed duration and da for an ongoing one, this gives you four ways to talk about time that English often covers with "for" and "in".

Verbs that choose their preposition

Section 7 groups common verbs by the preposition they require: avere bisogno di, imparare a, dipendere da, credere in, sposarsi con. Learning each verb together with its preposition avoids errors such as omitting it, which is one of the mistakes listed in section 10.

Exercises in three levels

The main exercises cover simple prepositions, articulated forms such as agli and sulle, and verbs with prepositions, and section 16 provides all the answers. Section 17 then adds a harder fill-in exercise, with several prepositions per sentence, and five sentences to translate from English. These have no answer key, so use the reference table to check each choice.

A useful routine: for every mistake, find the matching section and copy two of its examples into your notes.

Before and after this guide

It works both for beginners meeting these words for the second time and for intermediate learners tidying up persistent errors. The notes on regional variation are brief, and a few examples use loose forms; for instance, "on the table" is always sul tavolo with the articulated preposition.

Italian Prepositions Book