Difference Between “Tra” and “Fra” in Italian

One of the most common “compare” questions we receive on this site involves differences between words between and from in Italian.

Tra and Fra – what do they mean?

between and from Both are Italian prepositions and can be translated into English in a number of ways, including between, among, exist, Inside, leave, pass and Enter.

Yes, I know, there are many possible translations, so let’s take a moment to dig into each one.

between

The most common translation is between / from Yes betweenWhen this is a translation it usually means a distance in space or time, a middle ground or a relationship between two things – although these are not the only definitions.The key is to remember that whenever you want to translate the word between to italian, between/between Almost always the best choice.

among

among is another very common translation between/between, and their usage is almost identical. In a broad sense, both can be used to describe (a) things that are in the middle of other things, (b) things that exist as part of a group of things, or (c) things that are divided into groups.

pass

When something passes through another, you can use between/betweenor synonyms such as pass.

In the

between/between Generally translated as exist or Inside An expression of time that means “occurs within” or “does not exceed”.A common synonym is Inside (Inside, About).

Two very common expressions of time in Italian are soon and soon both mean soon, soonor rather, for a while/for a while.

leave

leaveOn the other hand, is a proper translation in expressions about physical distance.In this case you can also use the verb keep away.

Finally, we have some fixed expressions where between/between Appear:

• between/among other things= Also, among other things, except (By the way, starting over is not easy. = Also, starting from scratch is not easy.)

• between / between everything = everywhere, all these (Amid all this noise, how do you work? = How do you deal with all this noise?)

• between/between yourself and yourself = to yourself (think about yourself = think about yourself)

So, what’s the difference?

Apologies to anyone hoping for a deep answer to this question, but there is little difference in meaning between the two between and from. Whether or not to use one or not is largely a personal choice.

Having said that, there is a situation between takes precedence over from vice versa.if the following words start with a letter TR, from Always the first choice.Likewise, if the word starts with a letter FR, between will be used instead from. This is because Italians like to avoid unpleasant and unpronounceable pronunciations of repeated consonants.

Furthermore, according to braid, from tends to appear more frequently in time expressions, e.g. within an hour (within an hour) and when talking about a group of things or people (e.g. Some of them must be around forty years old = There must be forty in total). Under certain circumstances, from It can also be preceded by another preposition, e.g. from or exist.

Idiomatic expressions for Tra/Fra

Below we share some of the most commonly heard Italian expressions between and from. Some have a close English equivalent, which should make them easier to remember!