"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), so you're specifying it. Anyway, it might seem random but Italian articles'randomness is no different than English's. Indeed, let me point out that here English doesn't put "the", either if you say "to have lunch" or "to be at 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

[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.

[Theo639847]

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

[MariaGajew2]

:)