What Are Prepositions?
Prepositions are words that connect nouns, pronouns, or phrases to other parts of a sentence. In Italian, they are crucial to indicate relationships between elements, like location, direction, or time.
As a tutor of Italian, I realized over the years that one of the common challenges Italian learners face is understanding how prepositions work, particularly when it comes to location and movement.
For instance, 80% of students have a hard time with the difference between in and a in Italian, and most of them also struggle with understanding the preposition tra.
Here, I will give you a deeper explanation of the Italian preposition tra, its uses and meanings.
“Tra” in Italian
“Tra” as “Between” and “Among”
The Italian preposition tra can be translated both as “between” and “among”. In fact, unlike English, Italian does not differentiate prepositions depending on the amount of items or people.
It is used in the same exact ways as the English “between” and “among”, as you can see from the examples below:
Le chiavi sono cadute tra il divano e il muro.
The keys fell between the couch and the wall.
Luigi era seduto tra la madre e la zia.
Luigi was sitting between his mother and his aunt.
C’era anche il pilota dell’aereo tra i feriti.
The pilot of the plane was among the injured.
Costerà tra i 10 e i 15 euro.
It’ll cost between 10 and 15 euros.
Sei il migliore tra i miei amici.
You’re the best among my friends.
Also, just like English uses “and” to link two or more items, Italian uses the conjunction e(and). This conjunction fills the place between or among two conjuncted items.
La città si trova tra le colline e il mare.
The city is located between the hills and the sea.
“Tra” as “in”
Another way we can use tra in Italian is to discuss time distance – from the moment in which we are speaking – and spatial distance – how far something is from where we are.
In simple words, it can be translated in English as “in”, to introduce something that will happen in the future, as you can see from the examples below:
Ci vediamo tra un’ora.
See you in one hour.
Arriveranno tra quattro ore.
They’ll arrive in four hours.
Tra due chilometri c’è un supermercato.
There is a supermarket in two miles.
Tra poco arrivo.
I’ll be there shortly.
“Tra” vs “Fra”
Get ready, because this paragraph will be very short.
The prepositions fra and tra are exactly the same. They are used in the same contexts, in the same ways, with the same meanings.
Metti il bicchiere tra le tazze.
Put the glass among the mugs.
Metti il bicchiere fra le tazze.
Put the glass among the mugs.
Tornerà in Italia fra tre anni.
S/he will come back to Italy in three years.
Tornerà in Italia tra tre anni.
S/he will come back to Italy in three years.
Il treno si è fermato tra Perugia e Siena.
The train stopped between Perugia and Siena.
Il treno si è fermato fra Perugia e Siena.
The train stopped between Perugia and Siena.
