Aggiungo aglio alla zuppa di lenticchie.

I add garlic to the lentil soup.

Breakdown of Aggiungo aglio alla zuppa di lenticchie.

• io: I
• di: of
• aggiungere: to add
• a: to
• la zuppa: the soup
• la lenticchia: the lentil
• l'aglio: the garlic

Questions & Answers about Aggiungo aglio alla zuppa di lenticchie.

Why is there no article before aglio?

In Italian, aglio (garlic) is an uncountable noun when used in a general sense, so you omit the article. Saying Aggiungo aglio simply means “I add garlic.”
You can use the partitive to emphasize “some garlic”:
• Aggiungo dell’aglio = “I add some garlic.”

Why is it alla zuppa instead of just a zuppa?

When you combine the preposition a (to) with the definite article la (the) before a feminine singular noun, you fuse them into alla.
So alla zuppa means “to the soup,” because you’re adding garlic to a specific soup.

Could you say Aggiungo l’aglio? What would that mean?

Yes. Aggiungo l’aglio translates to “I add the garlic,” implying you’re referring to a specific garlic already mentioned or visible. Without the article (“Aggiungo aglio”), it’s more generic: “I add garlic.”

What’s the difference between di lenticchie and con lenticchie in zuppa di lenticchie?

• Zuppa di lenticchie (“lentil soup”) uses di to indicate the main ingredient (the soup is made of lentils).
• Zuppa con lenticchie means “soup with lentils,” emphasizing lentils as an added component rather than the defining feature.
In Italian dish names, di is the standard preposition to signal the primary ingredient.

Why is lenticchie plural here?

You’re talking about many individual lentils in the soup. In Italian, foods made from small, countable items usually use the plural form:
• lenticchie (lentils)
Using lenticchia (a single lentil) would sound odd.

How do you conjugate aggiungere in the present tense?

Aggiungere is a second-conjugation verb (-ere). Its present-tense forms are:
• io aggiungo
• tu aggiungi
• lui/lei aggiunge
• noi aggiungiamo
• voi aggiungete
• loro aggiungono

How is the double gg in aggiungo pronounced?

The gg is a geminated (doubled) consonant, held slightly longer than a single g. It’s a hard g (as in “go”), sustained briefly:
• g in gatto vs. gg in aggiungo.