Learning Italian

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The Preposition da by Ronald Glenn Wrigley

The Italian preposition da is most commonly used to indicate origin or source, in which case it corresponds to the preposition “from” in English.

Parto da Boston.	I am leaving from Boston.
è un regalo dai miei genitori.	It is a gift from my parents.
Pietro viene dalla Sicilia.	Pietro comes from Sicily.

However, da is also used in time expressions, in which case you may translate it as “since” or “for.” Italian uses the construction of present tense + da + time expression to indicate an action that began in the past and is still going on in the present.

Da quanto tempo leggi questa rivista?	How long have you been reading this magazine?
Leggo questa rivista da molto tempo.	I've been reading this magazine for a long time.

Da is also used to express the equivalent of the English phrase “at the (house, office, place) of …”

Mangio da Massimo.	I'm eating at Massimo's house.
Andiamo dai signori Rossi.	We're going to the Rossi's house.
Vado dal dentista.	I am going to the dentist's (office).
Porto la macchina dal meccanico.	I am bringing the car to the mechanic's (garage).

The preposition da can indicate for what or for whom something is intended:

un campo da calcio	a soccer field
un campo da golf	golf course
scarpe da ginnastica	gym shoes, sneakers
bicicletta da uomo	man's bicycle

It is also used in the following idiomatic constructions:

Non c'è niente da fare.	There is nothing to do.
Cosa c'è da mangiare?	What is there to eat?
è una cosa da poco.	It's nothing, it's of no importance.
una persona da poco	a worthless person

In English we have the luxury of adding an apostrophe and the letter s to the end of a noun when we want to show possession. This does not work in Italian. In Italian we must use the preposition di. Il libro di Giovanni means Giovanni's book (literally, “the book of Giovanni”).

Exercise 9-3</h2> <p>Read each sentence aloud to practice your pronunciation.</p> <table width="100%" frame="all"> <tgroup cols="2"> <colspec colname="col1" colnum="1"/> <colspec colname="col2" colnum="2"/> <tbody> <tr> <td><p><B>Parto da Boston.</B></p></td> <td><p>I am leaving from Boston.</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p><B>è un regalo dai miei genitori.</B></p></td> <td><p>It's a gift from my parents.</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p><B>Da quanto tempo leggi questa rivista?</B></p></td> <td><p>How long have you been reading this magazine?</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p><B>Leggo questa rivista da molto tempo.</B></p></td> <td><p>I've been reading this magazine for a while.</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p><B>Vado dal dentista.</B></p></td> <td><p>I'm going to the dentist's.</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p><B>Porto la macchina dal meccanico.</B></p></td> <td><p>I am bringing the car to the mechanic's.</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p><B>Cosa c'è da mangiare?</B></p></td> <td><p>What's there to eat?</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p><B>è una cosa da poco.</B></p></td> <td><p>It's no big deal.</p></td> </tr> </tbody> </tgroup> </table>  <div id="pagination"><ul><li class="prev"><a href="http://www.netplaces.com/learning-italian/prepositions/the-preposition-a.htm" title="The Preposition a">The Preposition a</a></li><li class="next"><a href="http://www.netplaces.com/learning-italian/prepositions/the-preposition-di.htm" title="The Preposition di">The Preposition di</a> </li></ul></div></div> <div id="coda"> <div id="rel"><div class="n5">Related Articles</div><ul> <li><a href="http://www.netplaces.com/learning-italian/prepositions/the-prepositions-per-su-con-tra-and-fra.htm" zT="18/1YL/Zn"> The Prepositions per, su, con, tra, and fra - Learning Italian </a></li> <li><a href="http://www.netplaces.com/learning-italian/the-conditional-mode-and-causative-constructions/the-present-conditional.htm" zT="18/1YL/Zn"> The Present Conditional - Learning Italian </a></li> <li><a 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