"I have a dinner with him in January."

Translation: Ho una cena con lui a gennaio.

[CinziaGasp]

Sono italiana , si può dire a gennaio e in gennaio

[Richard78640]

Molto utile, grazie

[bcchervitz]

So when there is a phrase about time, such as "in January," should I generally use "a" instead of "in"? Or is there another reason why the correction translation is "a gennaio" and not "in gennaio"?

[barra86]

you often have to use "a" before a month

[Michelle672656]

DL would not allow me to use cenare here - I don't see why? Ceno con lui a gennaio. Should be correct?

[Richard78640]

Yes, but why play with it? Just take what DL asked I have (ho) a dinner (una cena) then your answer would have been right. In time, the DL algorithms will catch up with all the alternatives rather than just a lot of them.

[Michelle672656]

I do not see this as playing with it -we have learned cenare - to have dinner. It is a more efficient was of saying this! I agree there are many people on these forums that waste everyones time with playing with it - DL teaches you many stock phrases and if you stick to them you learn the patterns.

[Richard78640]

The problem you have is that the question DL posed was "to have a dinner" not "to have dinner"

[Michelle672656]

In English there is no difference between to have a dinner and to have dinner. In Italian there may be since articles seem to express a lot in Italian but I do not know. DL did actually accept my Cenare option as good Italian. I do think io ceno and io ho una cena are basically the same thing from exploring it back in past lessons. Although Io ho la cena expresses something different.

[Richard78640]

An interesting debate we're having! However, having been a writer/journalist/broadcaster for many years, I cannot agree that have a dinner & have dinner are the same. In Italian, articles seem to have a somewhat flexible nature. But similarly, and for reasons I won't bore you with, io ceno does not strictly equal io ho una cena. Also, io ho la cena does equal io ceno. I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. Stammi bene e a presto professoressa!

[KKFusionKaran]

@Michelle

I have a dinner with him in January.
Ho una cena con lui a gennaio.

Ask yourself - is "a dinner" a verb? So why insist on using "cenare"? And here I am assuming that you know that "cenare" is a verb.

Keep it simple.

The lesson plan here is for users to practice the usage of the preposition "a".

Follow the program to learn Italian and how it is expressed in Italian.

Happy e-learning.

:) KK

[gorenje1]

DL accept this

[jan114056]

I selected 'in gennaio' and it was rejected!

[DerekSimms]

That's DL for ya!

[Avellana620325]

Me too!

[SusanBernard]

Faccio una cena...
Wouldn't this be okay too?

[athena_midnight]

I used "in gennaio" and it was accepted.

[ChesyzChesy]

Why does "ceniamo con lui" not accepted?

[TessSmith16]

That is "we have dinner with him"

[Marianne409867]

Ceneró con lui in gennaio - é futuro no? But was not accepted

[ilively]

I wish I could post screenshots. This is a 'choose the word' palette. While it gave me credit for a correct answer, it says I have a typo and that I should have said "Io ceno con lui a gennaio." 'Io' and 'ceno' were not words available to select for the answer; HO was.

[Nami256190]

I answered, "Faccio la cena con lui a gennaio." Why is it wrong?