How Many Prepositions?! Mastering Italian “Preposizioni”

Why Are There So Many Italian Prepositions?

Italian is a wonderfully rich (and yes, sometimes wonderfully complex) language. Just when you think you’ve cracked it — surprise! — another grammar twist pops up.

If you’ve already met the preposizioni semplici (those trusty 9 basic prepositions), you might be wondering: what’s next?
Well... more prepositions!

In this guide, you’ll learn how Italians classify prepositions — and how to use them naturally in conversation (without memorising endless lists). Whether you’re learning in class or taking Italian lessons in The Hague, this is an essential topic.

What Is a Preposition?

In grammar terms, a preposition is a short word that connects a noun or pronoun to another element of a sentence, expressing relationships like place, time, cause, or manner.

In English, prepositions form one big group (though often tangled up with adverbs in phrasal verbs). Italian, on the other hand, likes a good classification — so prepositions get sorted into three categories.

The Three Types of Italian Prepositions

According to Treccani, modern Italian distinguishes between three main types of prepositions:

• Preposizioni Semplici (Simple Prepositions)

A closed group of 9 core prepositions:

• di, a, da, in, con, su, per, tra, fra
  

These are your everyday tools — essential for building sentences.

Preposizioni Articolate (Articulated Prepositions)

Formed by combining a preposizione semplice + definite article:

• di + il → del

• in + la → nella

• su + i → sui
  ... and so on.

This group contains about 35 combinations — very useful when specifying which thing or place you’re referring to.

Preposizioni Improprie (Improper Prepositions)

Here’s where it gets fun!
Preposizioni improprie include words that weren’t originally prepositions, but function as them in context.

For example:

• dentro → inside

• sopra → above

• sotto → below

• prima → before

• durante → during
  

These words link parts of a sentence by expressing relationships (just like regular prepositions), even though they don't belong to the two previous categories.

A Cat, a Box, and an Improper Preposition

Let’s imagine a scene (because Italian grammar is always better with cats ).

You have a cat — un gatto — and it’s... inside a box.

You want to describe this in Italian:

Il gatto è dentro la scatola.
→ The cat is inside the box.

Here, dentro functions exactly like a preposition, even though it’s not one of the preposizioni semplici or articolate. It belongs to the preposizioni improprie group.

In fancier grammar terms, you might hear locuzioni prepositive — multi-word prepositional phrases like:

• di sopra → upstairs

• di fronte a → in front of

• insieme a → together with

How Many Improper Prepositions Are There?

Ah — the jackpot question.

• Preposizioni semplici? 9

• Preposizioni articolate? ~35

• Preposizioni improprie? Countless!

There’s no fixed number because Italian keeps evolving — and speakers frequently create new locuzioni prepositive in everyday speech.

The good news? You’ll absorb these naturally with practice — no need to memorise long lists.

Common Improper Prepositions You’ll Hear Often

Here are some popular preposizioni improprie you probably already know or will soon hear:

• dopo → after

• durante → during

• prima → before

• sopra → on/above

• sotto → under

• davanti → in front of

• dietro → behind

• dentro → inside

• fuori → outside

• vicino → near

• accanto → next to

• lontano → far from

• verso → towards

• oltre → beyond

• fino → until

• insieme → together

• senza → without

• tranne → except

• invece → instead

• nonostante → despite

Learning Italian in The Hague?

Mastering prepositions is key to fluency — and I’m here to help! If you’re in Den Haag / The Hague, you can join my Italian lessons in The Hague for practical grammar, conversation practice, and a few good laughs (sometimes involving cats and soup).

👉 Book your free trial lesson — and never fear prepositions again!