Place, time, manner and other "complementi"

In both languages, expressing place, time, manner, etc. is done mainly in two ways:

1) by means of adverbs:
for place: qui, là, dappertutto, ovunque... here, there, everywhere, anywere...;
for time: ieri, oggi, domani, adesso, dopo... yesterday, today, tomorrow, now, later...;
for manner: bene, male, felicemente, adagio, velocemente... well, badly, happily, slowly, fast... .

2) by means of prepositions followed by nouns (with their articles, adjectives, etc.): for place: a scuola, in Toscana, al ristorante, sulla tavola... at/to school, in/to Tuscany, at/to the restaurant, on the table...;
for time: di giorno, di mattina/al mattino, di notte, a mezzogiorno, in estate... by day, in the morning, by night, at noon, in summer...;
for manner: di buon passo, con calma, di buon umore, alla rinfusa... at a good pace, slowly, in a good mood, at random... .

As the examples show, the prepositions are not a reliable guide; it is necessary to analyse these "complementi" ( technically, "adverbial phrases"). For instance, why "at/to school, in/to Tuscany" ? In English, the difference is between motion and station (being at school vs. going to school, in Italian the difference is between large and small places (in Piedmont vs. at Tricerro) - but see the page on "Complementi di luogo" .

Manner, place and time are by no means the only "complementi" worth discussing, because there are many more significant differences from Eng. usage. Before opening the following pages, however, make sure you have read the notes on sentence structure and basic syntax