Learn Italian Prepositions & Irregular Verbs: One Rule for 35 Contractions, Five Participle Families

Italian beginners usually trip over the same two things: the tiny words that merge with articles (nel, dagli, sulla) and the past participles that refuse to end in -ato. Italian Prepositions & Irregular Verbs (deck code TI8364, 100 cards) covers both in two clean blocks. Cards 1-50 handle prepositions and cards 51-100 handle verbs, so treat it as two decks.

Block 1: the 35 articulated prepositions

Cards 2-36 are a full grid: five prepositions (di, a, da, in, su) times seven articles. You don't need 35 separate memories. You need one rule:

• di becomes de- and in becomes ne-. a, da and su stay the same.
• Add the article. The l doubles with every article except il and i: del / dei but dello, della, dell', degli, delle.

With that rule, in + gli → negli and su + lo → sullo stop being guesses. Then cards 37-49 give the meanings with examples:

One correction. Card 50 says con "does NOT combine". The standard written form is separate (con il), but col and coi are common in speech and in writing. Learn them so you recognise them.

Block 2: 50 verbs, one present form and one participle each

Each verb card gives the io present and the passato prossimo. Here's what you'll practise: essere, avere, fare, andare, dare, stare, dire, venire, sapere, potere, volere, dovere, rimanere, tenere, uscire, porre, tradurre, condurre, salire, morire, piacere, trarre, scegliere, cogliere, togliere, spegnere, piangere, fingere, dipingere, vincere, vivere, leggere, scrivere, chiedere, chiudere, rispondere, decidere, prendere, mettere, nascere, conoscere, crescere, correre, rompere, aprire, offrire.

Sort the participles by ending, not by verb. About half these verbs (leggo, chiudo, prendo, apro…) are regular in the present and irregular only in the participle. Make five piles:

• -tto: fatto, detto, letto, scritto, rotto, cotto, tradotto, condotto, tratto
• -so: chiuso, deciso, preso, messo, corso
• -sto: visto, chiesto, risposto, rimasto, posto
• -nto: pianto, finto, dipinto, vinto, spento
• -lto / -rto: scelto, colto, tolto, aperto, offerto, morto

-gliere verbs move the g in the present (scelgo, colgo, tolgo), and spegnere does the same (spengo).

Tag the auxiliary in red. Essere verbs agree in gender (sono andato/a). Three cards need a note:

• stare and essere share stato.
• Card 73 mi sono seduto/a is really sedersi.
• correre and salire use avere when they take an object (ho salito le scale) or when you mean the activity itself (ho corso). They use essere when there is a destination (sono corso a casa).

Next step

These cards give the io form and the participle, not full paradigms. For the full present, future and conditional tables, see our Italian verb conjugations guide. Find deck TI8364 in the library at flip-it.app.