Italian Language Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for students, teachers, and linguists wanting to discuss the finer points of the Italian language. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
I'm very new to learning Italian and this has confused me about the site. I know that "in" is translated nel or nello (if there are other forms, I'm as yet unaware). In many question titles that are apparently asked in Italian, I still see the word "in" being used where I would have expected an Italian form of the word.
Has "in" been assimilated into Italian, has it always been a valid word to mean the same as it does in English, or is it just mixing of English and Italian in a sentence?
Nel means in + il, nello means in + lo, we call them preposizioni articolate, because il and lo are articles.
There are also nella = in + la, nei = in + i, negli = in + gli and nelle = in + le.
In is used also alone (as preposizione semplice), for example:
In Italia si mangia bene.
Oggi sono al mare ma domani devo andare in ufficio.
The preposizioni semplici are di, a, da, in, con, su, per, tra, fra.
The prepositions di, a, da, in and su have all the forme articolate.
For example: del = di + il, allo = a + lo, dai = da + i, etc.
For these prepositions you have to use the forma articolata if they are followed by an article:
Correct: Vado dalla nonna.
Wrong: Vado da la nonna.
Con is articolata with il = col and with i = coi, the other forms are less used or archaic.
In this case, however, also con il and con i are correct and probably more common:
Correct: Il gatto ha litigato col cane.
Correct: Il gatto ha litigato con il cane.
For the other prepositions the forme articolate don't exsist or are archaic.
