"A meal ends with coffee."

Translation: Un pasto finisce col caffè.

[Arnauti]

Both con and col are accepted - why? are they always interchangeable?

[Viaggiatore]

Col = con + il, the way al = a + il.

[ashlward]

A meal ends when I say it ends.

[HfZZ]

"COL"="CON IL",but the form"COL" is not used since 1960!!!!!

[ksoo]

What caused the change? Is it part of a larger linguistic trend?

[laila.bent]

In English a meal ''ends'' whereas in french un repas ''SE termine'', so it's reflexive. Would ''A pasto si termina (o si finische) con caffe'' work?

[prwh]

Both "termina" and "finisce" are accepted as translations of "ends." Are Italians equally likely to use either one in this situation, or is there some subtle difference?

[PazKe]

I can't answer the Italian question, but based on English subtleties, it seems like the meal should end but I should finish it. The meal doesn't finish itself. I hope someone has an answer.

[Checkar]

Why can one not use cibo which is meal as an alternative to pasto all the gender matches in the same way??

[ksoo]

I'm no expert but I'm pretty sure that cibo means food, and saying that "The food ends with coffee" really doesn't make nearly as much sense. "Meal" is more of an event while "food" is more of a noun, IMHO.