How to Use Italian Prepositions IN, A and SU Without Guessing

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Sometimes IN, A and SU translate directly to “in”, “at” and “on” in Italian, but not always! So, how do you know which one to use? Well, there’s a small set of patterns in Italian that make choosing between IN, A and SU insanely intuitive. So, in this guide, I’ll show you what those patterns are and share some simple tricks that will help you pick the correct preposition every time.

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TL;DR: How to Master IN, A, and SU in Italian

Italian prepositions in, a, and su do not always translate directly as “in,” “at,” and “on.” The easiest way to choose the right one is to learn the core patterns Italians use most often.

Use IN for:

• being inside a place: Sono in hotel
• countries and regions: Sono in Italia, Vivo in Sicilia
• seasons: in estate, in inverno
• transport: in macchina, in treno, in autobus

Think: IN = inside a space, area, period, or mode of transport

Use A for:

• cities: Sono a Firenze, Vado a Roma
• destination: Sono al ristorante, Sono alla stazione
• home in the general sense: Sono a casa
• clock times and months: alle dieci, a febbraio

Think: A = arrival point, destination, or precise moment

Use SU for:

• things resting on a surface: Il telefono è sul letto
• walls, floors, desks, roofs: Il quadro è sul muro
• the internet and online platforms: su Instagram, su Google, su YouTube

Think: SU = surface, physical or digital

Important meaning contrast:

Sometimes both A and IN are possible, but they mean different things:

• Sono al ristorante = I’m at the restaurant
• Sono nel ristorante = I’m inside the restaurant

Similarly:

• Sono a casa = I’m home
• Sono in casa = I’m inside the house

The key idea

• IN = inside
• A = at / to a destination
• SU = on a surface

If you learn these few patterns first, choosing between in, a, and su becomes much easier and far more intuitive.

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Watch this lesson on my YouTube Channel

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Talking About Position

Let’s start with a situation that trips up even advanced learners, but with one little trick, you’ll never get it wrong again. You’ve just arrived in Florence. Your Italian cousin calls and asks: where are you right now?

Do you say Sono in hotel? or Sono a hotel?

Here’s an easy way to remember it: Look around. What do you see? Walls, the floor, the roof. You’re INside. And the Italian preposition you need is hiding right there, at the start of a word you already know: INside → IN. So, the correct response is:

• Sono in hotel. – I’m in the hotel.

Here are some more examples:

• Sono in cucina. – I am in the kitchen.
• Lavoro in ufficio. – I work in an office.
• Studio in biblioteca. – I study in the library.

So here’s rule number one: use IN with places you can walk into.

But there’s one very important exception, and it’s a word you’ll use a lot: casa (house, home). Since home is a place you go inside, you might expect it to take IN. But with casa, Italian usually uses A, not IN. That’s because a casa is a fixed expression where your home isn’t just a building, it’s a destination. If you are a casa, it means you’re not out and about. It doesn’t matter whether you’re inside the house, out in the garden, or sitting in the garage. You’re just home, that’s the idea.

• Sono a casa. – I am at home.
• Resto a casa. – I stay at home.
• Mangio a casa. – I eat at home.

In casa does exist, but it means you’re physically inside the four walls of the house, in contrast with being outside.

• Restiamo in casa perché piove. – We stay indoors because it’s raining. (Literally: We stay inside the house because it’s raining)
• Fa freddo, entriamo in casa. – It’s cold, let’s go inside. (Literally: It’s cold, let’s go inside the house)

So, if someone asks you Dove sei? (Where are you?) you can say either:

• Sono a casa = I’m home (as opposed to being out somewhere)
• Sono in casa = I’m inside the house (as opposed to being outside in the garden)

Are you enjoying this lesson? Don’t let the learning stop here, make sure you download your free PDF cheat-sheet for this lesson which includes all these tips in one handy guide plus a bonus quiz. To get your copy, just enter your details below.

Cities vs Countries

Now, let’s fix another common mistake almost everyone makes, and it’s an easy fix. Your mum is on the phone and wants to know which city you’re in.

Do you say Sono in Firenze? or Sono a Firenze?

Here’s a little trick to use the right preposition: Think about when you arrived. At every airport, every train station, there is an Arrivals board. And what letter does it start with? A. That’s the preposition you need for cities you arrive in. So you say:

• Sono a Firenze. – I’m in Florence.

Let’s see some more examples:

• Vivo a Roma. – I live in Rome.
• Vado a Milano. – I go to Milan.
• Siamo a Napoli. – We are in Naples.

Now here’s where it gets interesting, what if you’re visiting Italy, or any country, not just a city?

Do you say Sono in Italia? or Sono a Italia?

Think of it this way: when you go to Italy, you don’t just arrive at a point. You cross the border and you’re inside its territory. And what did we say about being inside somewhere? That’s right, we use IN!

So you say:

• Sono in Italia. – I am in Italy.

Here are some more examples:

• Studio in Spagna. – I study in Spain.
• Vado in Francia. – I go to France.
• Siamo in Portogallo. – We are in Portugal.

The same goes for regions because, just like countries, they’re big areas that you go inside of:

• Vado in Toscana. – I’m going to Tuscany.
• Vivo in Sicilia. – I live in Sicily.
• Resto in Piemonte. – I remain in Piedmont.

So here’s rule number two:

• A city is a point you Arrive At → use A.
• A country or region is a big space you go INside → use IN.

Destination vs Inside

This next situation confuses almost all learners because there are two correct answers, but they mean different things.

That evening, you head out for dinner and want to text your cousin to let her know you’ve arrived. Do you write Sono al ristorante? or Sono nel ristorante? Both are correct, but they say something slightly different.

Remember our Arrivals board from earlier? A restaurant is just like a city: it’s a place you Arrive At. So you write:

• Sono al ristorante. – I am at the restaurant.

This tells your cousin where you are now. You’re at the restaurant, not at the hotel, for example. Then your friend texts back and asks you to send a photo of the menu. But you’re still waiting outside! Here, it’s not about destination, it’s about being physically inside the building. And what do we use when we are inside? IN! So you should write back:

• Non sono ancora nel ristorante. – I’m not inside the restaurant yet.

Attenzione! Did you catch that? It’s al ristorante, not a ristorante. And it’s nel ristorante, not in ristorante. That’s because the prepositions A and IN combine with the article il to form the so-called articulated prepositions AL and NEL. Don’t worry too much about these yet, just be aware of them for now, as they’ll pop up again later.

Here’s another example:

• Sono alla stazione. – I am at the station. (I’ve arrived, this is where I am)
• Sono nella stazione. – I am inside the station. – (I’m within the building, not outside on the platform)
• Sono al supermercato. – I am at the supermarket. (That’s where I am right now, it’s my destination)
• Sono nel supermercato. – I am inside the supermarket. (I’m physically in there, between the aisles)

So here’s rule number three:

• A marks where you are at, the destination.
• IN marks that you’re inside the physical space.

When Do We Use “SU”?

Next you’re going to see one of the most satisfying tricks in Italian, once you learn it, you’ll never forget.

You check in to your hotel and start unpacking. You put your suitcase on the stand, arrange your shoes on the floor, toss your phone on the bed, and notice a beautiful painting hanging on the wall. What do all these things have in common? They’re all touching a SUrface. And there’s your clue: the word SUrface contains the preposition you need. SU! So you say:

• La valigia è sul supporto. – The suitcase is on the stand.
• Le scarpe sono sul pavimento. – The shoes are on the floor.
• Il telefono è sul letto. – The phone is on the bed.
• Il quadro è sul muro. – The painting is on the wall.

Here we see more examples of articulated prepositions. This time, SU combines with the article il to form SUL. Here are some more examples:

• Il gatto è sul tetto. – The cat is on the roof.
• Il computer è sulla scrivania. – The computer is on the desk.

These are all things on top of a surface.

So rule number four: when something is resting on a SUrface, use SU.

Prepositions of Time

Next we’ll look at a rule so simple it’ll make you wonder why no one told you sooner.

The next morning, you call the hotel reception to book a taxi. The concierge asks: What time do you want to depart? Now, in English, you’d say: I want to leave at ten. And here’s the good news: Italian works exactly the same way. Where English uses “at” for time, Italian also uses A. So you say:

• Voglio partire alle dieci. – I want to leave at ten.

There it is again, an articulated preposition. This time A combines with the article le to form alle. Italian uses feminine plural articles for hours, that’s why it’s alle dieci, alle tre, alle sette. To learn more about how to tell the time in Italian. Here are more examples:

• Ci vediamo alle tre. – See you at three.
• Torno alle sette. – I’ll be back at seven.

Next the concierge asks: And when are you coming back to Florence? You want to say you’ll come back in February. But Italian treats months the same way it treats clock times. Saying at ten o’clock and in February are specific moments. Like hitting a target with an arrow, we need to use A. So you say:

• Torno a febbraio. – I’ll be back in February.

Here are some more examples:

• Sono nato a marzo. – I was born in March.
• Partiamo a giugno. – We leave in June.

But what if you want to say you’ll be back in a specific season rather than a specific month? Here, Italian does follow the logic we already know. A season isn’t a precise moment. It’s a long stretch of time, weeks and weeks. You live inside a season, you’re surrounded by it, just like you’re surrounded by a country when you cross its borders. And what do we use when we’re inside something? IN!

So you say:

• Torno in inverno. – I’ll be back in winter.

Here are all four seasons, you can learn them as set phrases:

• in estate (in summer)
• in autunno (in autumn)
• in inverno (in winter)
• in primavera (in spring)

So here’s rule number five:

• For time and months, precise moments, you use A.
• For seasons, long stretches of time you live inside of, you use IN.

Transport

This next one seems strange at first, but if you think like an Italian it makes perfect sense. When you check out, the concierge asks how you’re getting to your hotel from the airport. You want to say you’ll take the metro. But, how do you say it in Italian?

Here’s the trick: when travelling by vehicle, be it a car, a plane, or the metro, you go inside it. And being inside something, as we know, requires IN. So you say:

• Vado in metropolitana. – I’m taking the metro/underground/subway (literally: I’m going by metro/underground/subway)

Here are some more examples:

• Vado in macchina. – I go by car.
• Vado in treno. – I go by train.
• Vado in autobus. – I go by bus.
• Vado in aereo. – I go by plane.
• Vado in taxi. – I go by taxi.
• Vado in bicicletta / bici. – I go by bicycle / bike.

You might be thinking, you don’t exactly go inside a bike. But here Italian isn’t thinking about the physical object. It’s thinking about the mode of transport. When you’re on a bike, you’re “inside the experience” of that mode of transport. Similarly, you would say:

• Vado in moto / motorino. – I go by motorbike / scooter.

So here’s rule number six: for modes of transport, use IN.

The Internet

Now let’s see where a trick we learned earlier shows up somewhere you’d never expect. While scrolling through Instagram, you see a gorgeous viewpoint in Florence and want to ask the concierge where it is.

How do you say: I saw it on Instagram?

Think of it this way: social media, websites, platforms and even paper are all SUrfaces you scroll through. Your finger glides across the screen, across the SUrface. And as we saw earlier, SUrface → SU.

So you say:

• L’ho visto su Instagram. – I saw it on Instagram.

Here are some other examples:

• L’ho letto su Facebook. – I read it on Facebook.
• Ho visto un video su YouTube. – I saw a video on YouTube.
• L’ho trovato su Google. – I found it on Google.
• L’ho visto sul giornale. – I saw it in the newspaper.

So here’s rule number seven: online platforms are digital SUrfaces, so you need to use SU.

Expressions You Just Have to Learn

Finally, there are some cases where IN, A and SU don’t follow any of the rules we just covered. These are set phrases Italians use all the time in daily conversation, and the best way to learn them is to learn them as chunks, that is, as set phrases, without trying to figure out the logic behind them. Here are some common ones with IN: 

Here are some common ones with A:

And these are some common ones with SU:

Learn these expressions as chunks, use them often, and soon you’ll stop thinking about IN, A, or SU — you’ll just know.

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