35 Comments
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
402
‧ The Italian preposition "a" is generally used with names of the months to express the English preposition "in". ‧ A febbraio vado in Italia. In February I'm going to Italy ‧ Oggi In Italia ‧ books.google.com/books?isbn=1305545087 ‧
‧ forum.duolingo.com/comment/21832269/Prepositions-A-all-alla-alle-allo-agli-ad ‧
‧ en.bab.la/dictionary/italian-english/a-febbraio ‧
‧ en.oxforddictionaries.com/types-of-noun/ ‧ en.oxforddictionaries.com/grammar-a-z/ ‧
‧ Proper Noun ‧ a name of a specific person, place, or organization, spelled with initial capital letters, e.g., Larry, Mexico, ‧ as distinguished from a common noun ‧ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proper_noun ‧
I know I should always check, but I always end up putting "ha" instead of "a" in the Type what you hear exercises. Are they supposed to sound the same?
- 1820
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
The "h" in "ha" is silent (and in every italian word), so "a" and "ha" are pronounced the same. Which one should you use, depends on the context of the sentence.
If "I have a dinner with him" is "Ho una cena con lui" how do you say "I'm having dinner with him?" Avendo la cena con lui?
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."
- 152
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.
- 402
Ceno con lui la domenica ‧ I have dinner with him on Sundays ‧ [ He and I duo-dine every Sunday (to duolingo) ] ‧
Ho una cena con lui ‧ [ a single dining event ]
Ceno con lui ‧ [ I dine with him - further context may reveal dining with him being an every day event or contrastingly a single occasion. ]
Why does it let you use "in" for the word in, and now it says its not correct and that "a" is?
- 402
Supper and Dinner share being latter meals of the day. "Soup du jour" combines etymologies from both words "Sup" & "Dejun" ‧ en.wiktionary.org/wiki/soup_du_jour ‧
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Supper_(Leonardo_da_Vinci)
www.museoreinasofia.es/en/collection/artwork/cena-dinner
‧ Cassius ‧ Will you sup with me tonight, Casca? ‧ www.sparknotes.com/nofear/shakespeare/juliuscaesar/page_30/ ‧
‧ blogs.getty.edu/iris/reclining-and-dining-and-drinking-in-ancient-rome/ ‧
‧ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supper ‧ Sup ‧ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supper_club ‧
Supper ‧ From French souper, used in Canadian French, Swiss French, Belgian French. It is related to soup, the Scandinavian word for soup, soppa' and the German word for soup, Suppe. ‧ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supper ‧
Supper ‧ Food consumed before going to bed. ‧ Any meal eaten in the evening; dinner eaten in the evening, rather than at noon. ‧ From Old French soper, from sope (“soup”). Compare French souper. ‧ en.wiktionary.org/wiki/supper ‧
Dinner ‧ From Old French (c. 1300) disner, meaning "dine", from the stem of Gallo-Romance desjunare ("to break one's fast"), from Latin dis- (which indicates the opposite of an action) + Late Latin ieiunare ("to fast"), from Latin ieiunus ("fasting, hungry").[3][4] The Romanian word dejun and the French déjeuner retain this etymology and to some extent the meaning (whereas the Spanish word desayuno and Portuguese desjejum are related but are exclusively used for breakfast). Eventually, the term shifted to referring to the heavy main meal of the day, even if it had been preceded by a breakfast meal (or even both breakfast and lunch). ‧ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinner ‧ Dine ‧
I have heard "dinner" used to denote the meal in the middle of the day, but we generally use "dinner" to mean the meal at the end of the day. To be clear, though, we usually differentiate by calling them "lunch" and "supper."
No matter how fast, how slow, or how loud I play it, she ALWAYS says un cena rather than una cena.
The audio for the Italian sentence is garbled - as if a piece of it is cut out.
