Il consumo di benzina diminuisce in autostrada.

Gas consumption decreases on the highway.

Breakdown of Il consumo di benzina diminuisce in autostrada.

• di: of
• in: on
• la benzina: the gasoline
• il consumo: the consumption

Questions & Answers about Il consumo di benzina diminuisce in autostrada.

Why is il used before consumo? In English, we say “fuel consumption” with no article.

Italian normally uses the definite article before abstract or general nouns. Here il consumo expresses “the consumption” in a general sense. Omitting the article (i.e. saying just consumo di benzina) is possible in headlines or very telegraphic style, but in full sentences Italians almost always include il.

Why di benzina and not della benzina?

When you indicate the material or type (gasoline as a substance), you use di + noun without an article: di benzina = “of gasoline” in a generic sense.
By contrast, della benzina (“of the gasoline”) would refer to a specific gasoline you’ve already mentioned or to a definite amount of it.

What is diminuisce and why does it have the infix -isc-?

diminuisce is the 3rd-person singular present indicative of diminuire (“to decrease”). Diminuire belongs to the 3rd conjugation of -ire verbs that insert -isc- in the present tense (except in noi and voi forms):
• io diminuisco
• tu diminuisci
• lui/lei diminuisce
• noi diminuiamo
• voi diminuite
• loro diminuiscono

Why in autostrada instead of or autostrada?