Davanti al divano c’è un tavolino. How can you describe a room in Italian? Let’s read together a sample text that shows how you can describe a room in Italian, reviewing the adverbs of place and the articulated prepositions. With audio and exercises!
Describing a room in Italian
Il mio soggiorno
| In soggiorno c’è un grande divano rosa. | There is a large pink couch in the living room. |
| Sul divano ci sono dei cuscini. | There are pillows on the couch. |
| Accanto al divano c’è una poltrona e dietro alla poltrona c’è una pianta. | Next to the couch is an armchair and behind the armchair is a plant. |
| Davanti al divano c’è un tavolino. | In front of the couch is a small table. |
| Il tavolino e il divano si trovano su un tappeto bianco. | The small table and sofa are on a white carpet. |
| Di fronte al divano c’è la TV. | Opposite the couch is the TV. |
| Sopra la TV ci sono due mensole con delle foto. | Above the TV are two shelves with pictures on them. |
| A destra della TV c’è una grande libreria e nella libreria ci sono tanti libri. | To the right of the TV is a large bookcase, and in the bookcase are many books. |
| Ci sono anche due finestre con le tende rosa. | There are also two windows with pink curtains. |
| Tra la libreria e le finestre c’è un camino. | Between the bookcase and the windows is a fireplace. |
| Mi piace il mio salotto, è luminoso e accogliente! | I love my living room, it’s bright and cozy! |
Adverbs of place
Where is what? To be able to describe a room in Italian, you should learn the adverbs of place. Some adverbs have a preposition, such as davanti a. It is best to always learn them together! If the preposition is in parentheses, it means that it is not obligatory.
| davanti a | in front of |
| dietro (a) | behind |
| di fronte a | facing, opposite |
| sopra (a) | on, above |
| sotto (a) | below, under |
| su | on |
| in | in |
| a destra di | on the right |
| a sinistra di | on the left |
| vicino a | near |
| accanto a | next to |
| tra / fra | between |
You can find out more about this in our post about adverbs of place
Articulated prepositions
Davanti al divano
A destra della TV
We learned that some adverbs of place have a preposition. This must be combined with the corresponding article.
| a + | il | AL |
| a + | lo | ALLO |
| a + | l’ | ALL’ |
| a + | la | ALLA |
| a + | i | AI |
| a + | gli | AGLI |
| a + | le | ALLE |
| di + | il | DEL |
| di + | lo | DELLO |
| di + | l’ | DELL’ |
| di + | la | DELLA |
| di + | i | DEI |
| di + | gli | DEGLI |
| di + | le | DELLE |
You can find more about this in our lesson the articulated prepositions
Describing a room in Italian: Furniture
To be able to describe a room in Italian, it is also important to know the right vocabulary. Learn the most important vocabulary around the house! Click on the image to learn the vocabulary.
Esercizio
Look at the picture and drag the place adverbs to the right place.
Image source: the hand drawn overviews are from Italiano Bello, the photo and illustration for the exercise are from Freepik
