Amazing Alonso !

[kfzmeister]

He doesn't

But, he did in Disney's Cars.

[donKey jote]

I was always under the impression that Michael spoke fluent Italian. You guys sure you're not wrong about that?

I also learned some Italian here in Germany, for example "Straßenpizza"

[driveace]

An Italian friend of mine says that he has no problem with Spanish ,as that is where he lives now ,and there are lots of words that are very similar .So if that's the case why should Spanish Alonso struggle with Italian ? Much easier for a Spaniard,than for a German or a Brit !

[Tazio]

Prepositions

The list of prepositions, and their uses, is fairly similar in both languages. However:
Italian has both di and da, whereas Spanish only has de. Compare Il padre di Pietro with El padre de Pedro, and Il treno viene da Londra with El tren viene de Londres.
On the other hand, Spanish has both para and por, whereas Italian only has per. Compare Ti chiamo per sapere with Te llamo para saber, and Andiamo per strada with Andamos por la calle.
In some cases, where Italian uses 'di', Spanish does not need a preposition. Compare Spero di viaggiare with Espero viajar, Penso di poterlo fare with Pienso poderlo hacer and Ha deciso di sposarsi with Ha decidido casarse.
Similarly, there are cases where Spanish needs 'de' when Italian doesn't need a preposition. Compare sono sicuro che with estoy seguro de que.
There are other cases in which one language needs a preposition but the other does not. For example, compare siamo in cinque with somos cinco.
There are cases where each language requires a preposition, but not the same one. Examples: interessarsi di qualcosa/interesarse en algo, qualcosa da bere/algo para beber, penso a te/pienso en ti, per forza/a la fuerza.
Care must be taken with sentences beginning with 'I went to' or 'I live in'. In Italian we have Sono andato a Parigi, Sono andato in Francia, Vivo a Parigi, Vivo in Francia. In Spanish, we have Fui a París, Fui a Francia, Vivo en París, Vivo en Francia. (The Spanish system is similar to the English one.)
The Spanish sobre can mean either su (on) or sopra (above) depending on the context.
Spanish has the so-called 'personal a'. This means that, when a direct object is a person, the preposition 'a' has to be inserted. Compare Vedo Paulo with Veo a Pablo. Remember this only occurs with persons, so for example Leggo il libro becomes simply Leo el libro.
The 'personal a' causes some difficulties with object pronouns (see the next section).
Finally, in Italian there exist many expressions in which 'di' occurs before an infinitive, as in Penso di averlo fatto, Mi ha chiesto di venire, Dille di scrivermi. This construction can be used in Spanish only when the infinitive refers to the subject of the sentence. That is, one can say Pienso de haberlo hecho, but one would have to say Me pidió que viniera and Dile que me escriba.

Comparison of Italian and Spanish 6

[pino]

Back to Alonso now thanks...

[F1boat]

Alonso was very good today, very quick and aggressive.

[fandango]

Alonso drove a great race today - but he lost. All that effort for just 3 (real) points must hurt, especially because it was due to Vettel driving so well.

[F1boat]

Poor Fernando, he was so close, but now it seems that he will lose the WDC after all. Although this season everything is possible.

[jens]

Alonso is fighting well and hard, particularly in races. But it looks like he needs one Vettel DNF from the last two races to pull off the title.

[F1boat]

By the way, I am very happy that these two will fight for the crown. The two double champions battling for their 3rd success which will put them up there with the legends. This is awesome.