"We get the books at the bookstore."

Translation: Prendiamo i libri in libreria.

[MABBY]

"in" may mean "at the", sometimes, but "nella" (also accepted as correct) should only mean "in the", shouldn't it?

[mdcooper88]

I was wondering about this too. I put "della" and got marked wrong

[nattys422]

why is it incorrect to add the article 'la' in front of libreria?

[Chris123456]

"In" is one of those difficult little prepositions that can mean so many things in Italian. In this context it means "at the" so if you were to use "la" as well, in front of libreria, you would be saying "at the the"

Hope this helps.

[ziggKogg]

So does that mean "Prendiamo i libri alla libreria" isn't acceptable??

[kwinke]

That's what I tried and it didn't work for me. Even though I think in this case it should have been OK as it seems like a classic use of alla to mean "at the"

[Ruthnona]

I agree. Alla should work. Nella indicates "in the bookshop" surely?

[meandmyshadow0]

Thats what I put, "alla"

[Karmaria]

Duolingo takes a while before making changes but it works now!

[mangoHero1]

It accepted it when i typed it :)

[katazap]

I have the same question

[0rHAwR21]

It was marked correct for me 8 years later.

[Ruthnona]

thank you. it does help!

[Duesseldutchie]

Helps! Thanks!

[brienza112]

Should ricevere be a better verb to use than prendere?

[ZibbiG]

Can't you say "otteniamo i libri in libreria"?

[Lasssa]

"Shouldn't prendiamo i libri dalla libreria" be also correct (by antonio my italian friend (he made me type this))

[tidyas]

"We get the books at the bookstore." = "Prendiamo i libri in libreria."
(they are there, we take them. I think it means that is the place we take them from; they may or may not be FROM the library).

The English sentence is a bit ambiguous, it's more like
"We get the books from the bookstore" = "Prendiamo i libri dalla libreria"
da + la = dalla

"We take the books to the bookstore" = "Portiamo i libri in libreria."
(they are somewhere else, we transport them there)

"We take the bookstore books" = "Prendiamo i libri della libreria"
(they belong to the bookstore / they are from the bookstore)
de + la = della

Can anyone extend / correct / improve this ?

[Laragazza215994]

I'm not italian, but a Spanish native. I believe this preposition works similar to Spanish "en". It seems that dalla" is " from", and the sentence states that the books were "at the" library, not from the library.

[Ariaflame]

Not library. Bookstore. Library is biblioteca, bookstore is libreria. Yes, I know.

[GScottOliver]

Yes, because Italian and other Romance languages use the suffix -(e)ria to mean "a vendor of this thing", as in panetteria, "baker" (vendor of bread). Plus, biblioteca is taken directly from the Latin for library. It's English that mixed things up.

[ChipAgapi]

forgot when to use "gli" - can someone help? thx

[s_augustyn]

Gli is for plual masculin when the word following it begins with a vowel e.g. gli elefanti

[Nea166]

Or when the singular form is "lo"

Lo, L’ > Gli
il > i

[KathyH834236]

agree, why cant we use otteniamo

[chcurtis2]

I agree. Prendiamo is we BUY the books; "We get" could mean borrow, or be given for free, or even steal -- in other words, otteniamo is a better translation.

[desmiley1]

Not exactly. Compriamo is "we buy." Prendiamo is "we take."

[MintySciurus]

If anyone else gets prendere (to take) and mettere (to put) mixed up (as I often do), it might help to remember that the Latin origin of prendere is praehendo (prae: "before" +‎ hendō: "I take, seize"). From which, the English word apprehend (to take/seize) is also derived.

https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/prendere

The origin of mettere isn't quite as straightforward:
https://www.realenglishschool.eu/bg/res-blog/latin-roots-7-mitto-mittere-misi-missum-to-send-to-let-go-advanced

[vaibhav-2663]

I typed 'al' instead of 'in'. But would 'alla' be the correct word ?

[vaibhav-2663]

Yes, alla is acceptable

[ilsignoredavid]

Why can't you say "negozio dei libri" rather than libreria? It may be awkward, but is it wrong, versus just not common?

[noob_for_life]

I thought a libreria was a bookstore. The biblioteca is the library.

[Cbasty]

I see others here saying they used 'alla' and it was accepted but it was marked incorrect for me. (;__;)?

[DianaPatti2]

not "alla liberia"?

[Rosanne968141]

why is "in" used here. I don't quite understand this

[Trish413197]

In English this means "to take" the books, NOT "to get" the books. Why then is the verb ottenere not used or marked as correct?

[PattQuattr]

On 3/19/22 it did not work