Di mercoledì la donna prepara sempre una zuppa calda.

In Italian, di + day of the week can express a habitual action, meaning something that happens regularly on that day.

So di mercoledì means:

• on Wednesdays
• every Wednesday

It does not usually mean one specific Wednesday. It suggests a routine.

Yes. Both can express a habitual meaning.

• Di mercoledì la donna prepara sempre una zuppa calda.
• Il mercoledì la donna prepara sempre una zuppa calda.

Both mean something like On Wednesdays, the woman always makes a hot soup.

Very broadly:

• di mercoledì often feels like on Wednesdays / on a Wednesday
• il mercoledì often feels like on Wednesdays / every Wednesday

In many everyday contexts, they are very close in meaning.

Days of the week in Italian usually stay singular even when the meaning is plural in English.

So:

• di mercoledì = on Wednesdays
• not di mercoledìs or anything plural

This is normal in Italian. English often uses the plural for repeated days, but Italian does not need to.

The accent shows that the stress falls on the last syllable:

• mer-co-le-dì

The written accent is important because many Italian words ending in a stressed vowel keep that accent mark.

So it should be written mercoledì, not mercoledi.

Italian uses the definite article more often than English does.

Here la donna means the woman:

• la = the
• donna = woman

If you said only donna, it would usually sound incomplete in a sentence like this.

Preparare is the infinitive, meaning to prepare.

In the sentence, the verb has to match the subject la donna (the woman), which is third person singular. So the correct form is:

• la donna prepara = the woman prepares

This is the present tense of preparare:

• io preparo
• tu prepari
• lui/lei prepara
• noi prepariamo
• voi preparate
• loro preparano

Here it means prepares in a habitual sense.

Because of di mercoledì and sempre, the sentence clearly describes a routine:

• On Wednesdays, the woman always prepares a hot soup.

Italian present tense can cover both:

• simple present: prepares
• sometimes present progressive in the right context: is preparing

But in this sentence, the habitual meaning is the natural one.

Sempre means always, and its position is quite natural here:

• la donna prepara sempre una zuppa calda

This is a very common placement:
verb + sempre + object

It sounds smooth and normal in Italian.

You may also hear other word orders in some contexts, but this one is standard and easy for learners to use.

Because zuppa is a feminine singular noun.

So the indefinite article must also be feminine singular:

• una zuppa = a soup

Compare:

• un libro = a book masculine
• una zuppa = a soup feminine

Adjectives in Italian usually have to agree with the noun they describe.

Here:

• zuppa is feminine singular
• so the adjective must also be feminine singular

That gives:

• zuppa calda = hot soup

Compare:

• un piatto caldo = a hot dish masculine singular
• una zuppa calda = a hot soup feminine singular

In Italian, many descriptive adjectives normally come after the noun.

So:

• una zuppa calda = a hot soup

This is the most neutral and natural order.

If an adjective comes before the noun, it can sometimes change the tone, emphasis, or style, but for basic description, noun + adjective is the safest pattern.

Grammatically, Italian can sometimes place an adjective before the noun, but una calda zuppa would sound more marked, literary, or expressive.

For normal everyday Italian, una zuppa calda is the best choice.

So as a learner, prefer:

• una zuppa calda

Italian often places a time expression at the beginning to set the scene:

• Di mercoledì, la donna prepara sempre una zuppa calda.

This is similar to English:

• On Wednesdays, the woman always prepares a hot soup.

It helps organize the sentence by telling you when first.

You could also move it, but the given order is very natural.

Usually yes, zuppa means soup.

In this sentence, una zuppa calda is simply a hot soup.

Depending on context, Italian also has other food words like:

• minestra
• brodo
• vellutata

But for general learning, zuppa = soup is perfectly fine here.

In this sentence, sempre clearly means always.

So:

• prepara sempre = always prepares

In other contexts, sempre can have slightly different shades of meaning, but here it is the straightforward adverb of frequency: always.

Because it uses la donna (the woman), it refers to a specific woman or a woman already known from context.

If you wanted to say a woman, you would normally use:

• una donna

So:

• la donna = the woman
• una donna = a woman