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- "Ho una cena con lui a gennai…
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128
Both a and in work before months. In this case, they are pretty much the same. a is more common in spoken language, whereas in sounds slightly more formal.
Apparently the preposition "a" in Italian can be translated as to/at/in depending the context.
Here is for more information http://italian.about.com/library/fare/blfare154a.htm
I would not say that "ha" sounds exactly like "a". The sound of "ha" is somewhat stronger than "a". It is the same difference between "è" and "e". It is used in four cases to disambiguate different forms of "avere" from other, completely unrelated, words. In all these cases the "h" makes the following vowel stronger: - ho (I have), different from "o" (or) - hai (you have), different from "ai" (to the) - ha (he/she/it has), different from "a" (to) - hanno (they have), different from "anno" (year)
In fact there was some debate in Italy about this usage of "h": someone suggested to replace them with ò, ài, à and ànno to improve consistency.
The other, completely different, uses of "h" are: - To change how "c" and "g" are pronounced before "e" and "i" (ce/ci vs che/chi) - In some exclamations: "oh", "ah", "ehm". In this case, the "h" follows the vowel any may prolong it - In the name of some places, like e.g. "Santhià". It has no effect and can be completely ignored
a proper noun, in america, is "a name used for an individual person, place, or organization, spelled with initial capital letters." for example: names: (Bob, Mary, etc.) places: (Italy, Mexico, California, etc.) organizations: (Apple, Boston Red Sox, etc.)
however in italy, "the days of the week, the months of the year, proper adjectives, a few proper nouns, and titles such as Mr., Mrs., and Miss." are not capitalized."
1257
If everyone starting each lesson, read the TIPS pre-lesson, so many answers to your questions are there...each time you start a new section of lesson, reread the TIPS to refresh the info!!!
726
As I missed out the 'una = a' and still got it right, does that mean it doesn't matter if we use it or not. Have noticed sometimes it's mandatory to use the preposition, but am still not sure when.