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Is there any difference between "sabato" and "di sabato"? Example:

  • Tornerà sabato.
  • Tornerà di sabato.

Do both imply that I'm talking about the next Saturday?

Charo
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Alan Evangelista
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    La prima frase può essere usata per dire «sabato prossimo»; la seconda per dire che il soggetto tornerà un certo, specifico, giorno della settimana. – Benedetta Oct 24 '19 at 16:09
  • Thanks, @Benedetta! So "tornerà sabato" = "he/she will come back on Saturday" and "tornerà di sabato" = "he/she will come back on a Saturday" – Alan Evangelista Oct 24 '19 at 16:11

1 Answers1

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I giorni della settimana sono proceduti dall'articolo determinativo o dalla preposizione di se ci riferiamo a qualcosa che succede ogni settimana in quel giorno.

Per esempio:

La domenica (= ogni domenica) mangio sempre molto, però di lunedì (= ogni lunedì) vado in palestra.

Se invece ci riferiamo a qualcosa che è successa un giorno particolare e basta, non useremo né l’articolo né la preposizione.

Per esempio:

Martedì sono andata dal medico, mentre venerdì ho cenato al ristorante.

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So:

"tornerà di sabato" means that they will come back on Saturday, we don’t know which one, but it will be a Saturday. So as suggested above (every Saturday) in the sense that any Saturday will potentially be the day they will come back.

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  • This meaning of "di"+weekday does not make sense in the example that I have given in my question ("Tornerà di sábato"). Couldn't it mean an indeterminate Saturday (this week, next week, next month, etc) in that example? – Alan Evangelista Oct 24 '19 at 16:21
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    @AlanEvangelista - tornerà ‘di sabato” means that they will come back on Saturday, we don’t know which one, but it will be a Saturday. So as suggested above (every Saturday) in the sense that every Saturday will potentially be the day they will come back. –  Oct 24 '19 at 16:25
  • Thanks for making it clear. I'd appreciate if you could edit your answer to include that. The meaning of "di"+weekday currently provided in it does not cover my example. – Alan Evangelista Oct 24 '19 at 16:29
  • I think the correct English is "any Saturday", not "every Saturday". – Denis Nardin Oct 24 '19 at 17:34
  • @DenisNardin - it is actually every (Sunday) in the example in Italian, my point is that it can suggest any ( Sunday ) as OP is looking for. –  Oct 24 '19 at 17:36
  • Sorry I wasn't clear. I meant that I think the last sentence of your comment should be "any Saturday will potentially be the day they will come back". In any case, it's not a big deal, I'm just a bit pedantic :) – Denis Nardin Oct 24 '19 at 17:41
  • Where does the second quotation come from? – DaG Oct 24 '19 at 19:53