ANDARE
The verb to go, andare,
indicates a movement towards a place and, unfortunately for you, it is followed by different prepositions
depending on the meaning of the sentence and on the noun that follows:
vado a scuola; vado in Italia; vado al cinema.
If andare is followed
by an infinitive, it must be used with the preposition a:
vado a mangiare; vado a dormire, vado a studiare a casa di Marco.
Sometimes andare is
also used to form idiomatic expressions, where the verb assumes a different
meaning. Here are
only two of the most common expressions, just to give you an example:
Come va?
= How is it going/how are you?
Va bene = it’s going fine/I am fine.
But also:
Va bene= it’s fine/I agree/ok.
Example:
A: Studiamo insieme domani?
B: Sì, va bene.
VENIRE
The verb venire (to
come) has a meaning of moving or
going to a place where the person we are talking to is, or will be. In this case the preposition used after the
verb will vary just like when using verb andare.
Vengo a Milano = I am
going to Milan (the person I am talking to is already there).
Domani sera vengo al cinema = tomorrow evening I am going to the movies,
(and the person I am talking to will be there too.)
However, when this verb is followed by the preposition da, it indicates the provenance of a person or a thing.
Vengo da Roma = I come from Rome. (I am from Rome) or I am coming from Rome (I
left from Rome earlier and now I am here).
Vengo da casa = I am coming from home. (I left the house and now I am here).
If venire is followed
by an infinitive, then again, it must be used with the preposition a:
vengo a mangiare con te.
USCIRE
Uscire, is commonly translated
as to leave, but can lead to confusion.
In Italian there are at least four different verbs that loosely mean ‘to
leave’. Uscire’s more precise meaning is that of physically exiting from a place or that of going out. When it is used
with its meaning of leaving/exiting a physical space it’s usually followed by
the preposition da plus the noun of
the space you are leaving. Example:
Esco
dall’ufficio alle 18:00.
Usciamo
dall’università alle 12:00.
The
one exception is casa. When you want to say you are leaving the
house, the preposition di is used.
Maria
esce di casa alle 7:00 tutte le
mattine.
PARTIRE
When
you want to say that you are leaving as in going on a trip, whether for work or
pleasure, use the verb partire. You will be happy to know that this is a
regular verb. When indicating your
destination, the verb is usually followed by the preposition per:
Parto
per Madrid domani.
Luca
parte per Milano con il treno delle
8:30.
While,
when indicating your provenance, the verb must be followed by the preposition da, from. Example:
Loro
partono da Parigi domenica mattina.
Noi
partiam da Londra in aereo.
