ILGUR: Italian Language, Grammar and Usage Resource

Italian is a tricky language when it comes to prepositions — it’s probably the most difficult thing to master. One of those ‘tricky’ elements is the use of le preposizioni improprie, or improper prepositions.

These are the prepositions that are adverbs, adjectives, verb forms and nouns that act like prepositions. Sometimes they combine with simple prepositions (a, di, da, con), sometimes they don’t. Below is a list of these prepositions. Remember, when these words function as prepositions, they are invariable. Be careful…since many of these improper prepositions are also adjectives — as adjectives, they must agree with the subject they are modifying.

• Improper prepositions that stand alone (without the help of a simple preposition):

  adverbs: attraverso, circa, contro, dopo, entro, meno, presso

  adjectives: lungo, salvo, secondo

  verb forms: durante, mediante, nonostante, rasente, escluso, eccetto, tranne

  nouns: malgrado, tramite, senza

• Improper prepositions + di

  adverbs: invece di, fuori di, prima di

• Improper prepositions + a

  adverbs: accanto a, addosso a, davanti a, incontro a, intorno a

  adjectives: vicino a

  nouns: riguardo a, rispetto a

• Improper prepositions + optional a
  The preposition, a, is optional with these following improper prepositions:

  adverbs: dentro, dietro, oltre, sopra, sotto

• Improper prepositions + da

  adjective: lontano

• Improper prepositions + con

  adverb: insieme con or insieme a

Let’s recap — In Italian there are three different ‘kinds’ of prepositions…think of them as members of a family:

• proper prepositions (think of them as your immediate family)
  Proper prepositions can be articulated (meaning that they combine with the definite article — see this post!) or simple prepositions (they stand by themselves). Simple prepositions are: a, di, da, in, con, su, per, tra, fra

• improper prepositions — which we just described here (think of these prepositions as your extended family)
  
• prepositional phrases (le locuzioni prepositive) (think of these prepositions as all the cousins, uncles and aunts once or twice removed)
  We’ll discuss these prepositions in the next lesson!