"Loro sono a pranzo."

Translation: They are at lunch.

[josicka]

Is it possible to use al pranzo here? And if not, why not? Thank you :)

[lorendani]

No, you can' t. Only if it is for example al pranzo di famiglia (at the family lunch)

[heqamaat]

Also curious about this, mostly whether or not it's right

[Thaudias]

Why is it not "al" pranzo ?

[HollyFontanetta]

The sentence says, "They are at lunch," not "They are at the lunch." Knowing this information, let's look at this:
a=at (or to)
il=the (if it was a feminine word like "cinema" then it would be "la", not "il")

now we combine the two words to create "al", so:
a+il=al
now we can assume:
a=at
il=the
al=at the

So if you understand that, then you'll understand this:
They are AT lunch=loro sono A pranzo (a=to)

So the word "al" would be if the sentence was:
They are AT THE lunch=loro sono AL pranzo

I hope this wasn't confusing. Good luck :D

[pizspozseng]

Similar to German an/am?

[MartinBlazsek]

It should accept 'they have lunch'.

[HollyFontanetta]

No they shouldn't. The verb for "have" is "avere" and "to be" is "essere". So it would be
Loro hanno pranzo...which is pretty much an entirely different sentence.

[Cosa_Vostra]

I disagree. "They have lunch." and "They are at lunch." is, in my humble opinion, pretty much the same as even the latter implies that you have a meal during lunchtime.

[Theo639847]

In English it means the same, and what was asked was an English translation.

[bigiorne]

I disagree. Otherwise you could also argue that "Io ho fame" cannot ever be translated to "I am hungry".

[Sacredmaiden]

Ooh, so how is a listener going to distinguish between "a" - at and "ha" - he/she/it has?

[TiagoMoita_PT]

Context? If you have the verb form "are" before (sono), how could "a" be "ha"?

[MariaGajew2]

:)

[Theo639847]

What is the difference between They are at lunch (Duo) and They have lunch (me, rejected)?

[Lamp49209]

When speaking italian, do people actually pronounce the "a" in this sentence? Or is this just an example of someone speaking very fast?

[RobertBruc14]

Listen to her. She is not saying the "a"...or perhaps changing the "sono" to "sona"

[spanishzacd]

Why is essere used instead of stare?

[duolingo.hc]

"they are eating lunch."

[carolemadrid]

Same question as the others - can any native speakers explain why it is 'a pranzo' and not 'al pranzo'? Grazie.

[MassimoControllo]

It is a difficult question. In the English course for Italian (by Duolinguo), the students bickered about a similar phrase... What is correct "andare A lavoro" or "andare AL lavoro"? Well, the correct answer is: "andare AL lavoro"... in this case there is no real "grammatical" reason.

In general we can say that the difference is the presence or absence of "definite article" in the "preposition"... so we always say "Loro sono A pranzo"... instead we say "Loro sono AL pranzo di nozze"... In this case we speak about a specific "pranzo" and in Italian we need the "preposition combined with a definite article"... A + IL = AL

Normally you will find:

Andarea teatro... but "Andare al Teatro dell'Opera di Roma"

Andare a scuola... but "Andare alla* scuola elementare"

Andare al mare

Andare al cinema

Andare al bar

Andare all’edicola (o in edicola)

HTC

Ciao

[Kringalia]

Why do we use "a pranzo" instead of "in pranzo"? Is there a way to tell, or is this just one of the things one has to learn as one goes?

[HollyFontanetta]

I always have trouble hearing "a pranzo." Before I went to turtle mode, it sounded like "loro sono pranzo"
...very confusing sometimes haha :)

[lorendani]

When you have ha you pronounce it as the h in have (aspired h)

[RenatoSSTradutor]

No you don't. The 'h' sound is not pronounced in Italian, as in Portuguese.

[Katie820722]

No, that is not correct.

[milanista1982]

What is the key to deciding if "a", "al", "allo", etc means "to" or "at"? Is it simply a matter of trying to determine the context in the sentence?

[lorendani]

It depends: in italian they mean both at and to, but if you want to distinguish them there is a rule: a is a prepositions of been in place, while to is a preposition of movement to place

[WarnockErica]

I think that "pranzo" should be translated as "dinner". I can eat il pranzo in the evening if it is a big meal, and lunch is hardly un pranzo if all I eat is a sandwich.