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15.4.2 exercise 2: The preposition a to designate a movement towards a place

In the case of cities, countries and regions there is no distinction between the movement and the residence at a place.

In the case of countries and regions in is to be used in both cases (Vado in Italia / Sono in Italia) in the case of cities the preposition a is used in both cases (Vado a Roma / Sono a Roma).


For the generic nouns city, country, region the same rule applies (Vado in città / Sono in città).

In all other cases in is only used when we speak about the residence in some place.


But if we talk about a movement we have to distinguish. If the stress in on the function of a building (city hall, church, train station etc.) the movement is to be described with in (Vado in municipio / I go to the city hall).

But if the stress is on a concrete building, this happens for instance if it is described more in detail, the movement is described with the preposition a (Vado al municipio di Senigallia per parlare con il Sindaco / I go to the city hall of Senigallia to talk with the mayor).

Some nouns doesn' t fit in this rule. In the case of casa / home, scuola / school, università / university, parco / parc, teatro / theater the stress in on the function and not on the building ( so the movement should be described with in following the rules above), but nevertheless we say vado al teatro / I go to the theater and Sono a casa / I am at home. In simple terms: Casa (in the sense of at home), parco, teatro, università works the same way as cities.

exercise 2: Select the right preposition in the following sentences
Quest'estate vado in a negli all' al Stati Uniti e poichè non ho un conto corrente devo decidere se portare con me contanti oppure scegliere una carta prepagata.
This summer I go to the United States and because I don' t have the bank giro account I have to decide whether to take cash with me or a credit card.
Sono in a negli all' al Monaco (Germania) e sono qui già da alcuni giorni.
I live in Munich (Germany) and I have been here already a few days.
Ogni trenta giorni vado in a negli all' al farmacia e contribuisco a fare arricchire l'industria più potente del mondo.
Every thirty days I go to the pharmacy and contribute to enrich the richest and most powerful industry of the world.
Non possiamo però andare in a negli all' al letto così presto, ci sentiamo "giovani" così andiamo in discoteca.
But we can' t go to bed so early, we feel young and so we go to the disco.
Ma perché quando vado in a negli all' al Inghilterra gli inglesi fanno finta di non capirmi?
But why the Englishmen feign that they don' t understand me when I go to Britain?
Vado in a negli all' al università e cerco un lavoro part-time che non rubi troppo tempo.
I go to the university und I am looking for a part time job which doesn' t consume a lot of time.
Sono in a negli all' al università e uso il computer grosso modo per fare quello che fai tu.
Ich bin an der Uni und nutze den Computer für mehr oder weniger das gleiche wie du.
Mi sento a tutti gli effetti Italiana, ma quando sono in a negli all' al Francia mi basta qualche ora per tornare a parlare e pensare in francese.
I am at the university and I use the computer for more or less the things as you do.
Nel pomeriggio siamo andati in a negli all' al cinema, a vedere "The Simpsons Movie".
The afternoon we went to the cinema to see the film "The Simpsons Movie".

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