Send me a text
Have you ever learned that di means "of", a means "to", and con means "with" ... only to discover that real Italian doesn't seem to follow those simple rules?
Welcome to Le piccole parole, a new mini-series dedicated to one of the most challenging aspects of Italian: prepositions.
--> Link to Post for Transcript for this episode <--
In this introductory episode, Maira and Antonio explore why these tiny words cause so many problems for intermediate learners. Along the way, Antonio reminisces about learning prepositions as a child at the mysterious Scuola dei Grammatici, and together they discover that knowing the translations of Italian prepositions is only the beginning.
You'll hear examples such as:
- Vado in banca
- Vivo a Roma
- Vado da Marco
- Parliamo di politica
- Ci vediamo tra due ore
...and you'll see why direct translation from English often leads us astray.
If you've ever wondered when to use di, a, da, in, con, su, per, tra or fra, this series is for you.
In the next episode, we'll begin with one of the most common and versatile prepositions in Italian:
di.
Buon ascolto!
⏳ CHAPTERS
0:00 Introduction
0:30 Antonio's School Days
1:18 Are Prepositions Really an Intermediate Topic?
2:38 The Nine Simple Prepositions
3:42 When Translation Doesn't Work
6:04 Welcome to Le piccole parole
7:49 Wrap-up
Support the show
I’d love to hear your thoughts on Impariamo l’italiano piano piano!
Here are a few ways you can connect with me:
Email: welearnpianopiano@gmail.com
All content © 2026 Impariamo l’italiano piano piano – Un impegno quotidiano
