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I know that "da" may mean to/at, when someone is talking about "one's place/home" or "one's work place", as "chez" in French. Examples:

Devo portare il piccolo Luigi dal pediatra. (I must take the little Luigi to the pediatrician)


È da sua madre. (He is at his mother's)

However, I have just heard "Venga da me". I thought it would mean "Come to my place", but it was translated as "Come to me". Can it mean both? Is "venga a me" not usual?

abarisone
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Alan Evangelista
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    Venga a me sounds like something just a god or a king would say. Why do you find venga da me different from porto Luigi dal pediatra? It's the same usage of da to denote a destination (moto a luogo in Italian), when the destination is a person; see item 2 here. – DaG Aug 28 '19 at 21:10
  • Because "da" is not used for destinations in general (eg vieni al negozio, vieni in Germania, vieni nella mia stanza), only specific contexts such as the ones I mentioned beforehand. "To come to someone" seems to be one of these contexts, but I needed a confirmation. Thanks for providing it! – Alan Evangelista Aug 28 '19 at 21:17

1 Answers1

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Venga a me would be theoretically correct, but it nowadays sounds hopelessly old-fashioned. A famous passage in the gospel of Mark has Jesus say “Suffer the little children to come unto me” (KJV; Sinite parvulos venire ad me in Latin), and it is usually phrased in Italian as Lasciate che i bambini [or fanciulli] vengano a me. But in modern everyday Italian you'd say something like Lasciali venire da me.

Indeed, among many other uses, da can denote a destination (moto a luogo in Italian), when the destination is a person, as in both the paediatrician and the Venga da me examples; see item 2 here.

DaG
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