Hello,
What's the difference between “Mettere” and “Porre”?
Thank you!
Mettere vs Porre
JamesP69
October 19, 2020
caterina-rocket-italian-tutor
October 27, 2020
Hi JamesP69,
Thanks for your question!
Although they have similar meaning, they are not interchangeable.
"Mettere" can be translated as "to put" and it generally refers to something physical ("metti la borsa sul tavolo" - "put the bag on the table").
"Porre" is usually translated as "to place" or "to pose". It's a slightly "more formal" way of "mettere" (e.g. "poni la mano sul fianco" - "place your hand on the hip"), but depending on the context its meaning can vary.
For instance:
"porre una domanda" - "to raise a question" (you cannot say "mettere una domanda")
"porre termine alla discussione" - "to stop the discussion" (you cannot say "mettere termine alla discussione".
"Porre" also has several compounds:
Thanks for your question!
Although they have similar meaning, they are not interchangeable.
"Mettere" can be translated as "to put" and it generally refers to something physical ("metti la borsa sul tavolo" - "put the bag on the table").
"Porre" is usually translated as "to place" or "to pose". It's a slightly "more formal" way of "mettere" (e.g. "poni la mano sul fianco" - "place your hand on the hip"), but depending on the context its meaning can vary.
For instance:
"porre una domanda" - "to raise a question" (you cannot say "mettere una domanda")
"porre termine alla discussione" - "to stop the discussion" (you cannot say "mettere termine alla discussione".
"Porre" also has several compounds:
- compose (comporre)
- depose (deporre)
- impose (imporre)
- suppose (supporre)
- transpose (trasporre), and so on.