Prima di preparare la zuppa, faccio rosolare le cipolle con un po’ di olio.

Because prima di + infinitive is the normal Italian pattern for before doing something.

• prima di preparare = before preparing
• prima di mangiare = before eating
• prima di uscire = before going out

If a full clause follows, Italian usually uses prima che instead:

• Prima di preparare la zuppa... = before preparing the soup
• Prima che io prepari la zuppa... = before I prepare the soup

It is in the infinitive because it comes after prima di. After this structure, Italian uses the infinitive when the subject is understood generally or is the same person as in the main clause.

So:

• Prima di preparare la zuppa, faccio...
• literally: Before preparing the soup, I...

This is very similar to English before preparing.

This is a very common Italian structure: fare + infinitive.

In cooking, fare + infinitive often means to have something done / to make something do something / to put something through an action. Here, faccio rosolare le cipolle means something like:

• I brown the onions
• I let the onions brown
• I sauté the onions until they start to brown

So although English would often just say I brown the onions, Italian frequently uses fare + infinitive in this kind of context.

Compare:

• Faccio cuocere la pasta = I cook / let the pasta cook
• Faccio raffreddare la torta = I let the cake cool
• Faccio bollire l’acqua = I bring the water to a boil

Rosolare is a cooking verb. It usually means:

• to brown
• to sauté
• to cook lightly in fat until golden or lightly browned

So with onions, it suggests cooking them in oil until they soften and take on a little color, not necessarily frying them hard.

It is a very useful kitchen word in Italian recipes.

Italian uses articles more often than English does. Here le is the plural definite article meaning the.

So:

• le cipolle = the onions

In recipe language, Italian often includes the article even where English might sound more natural without it. The article can refer to the onions involved in the recipe, not necessarily onions already mentioned earlier.

For the same general reason: Italian often uses the definite article where English may not.

• la zuppa = the soup

In this sentence, it refers to the soup being prepared, so Italian naturally says la zuppa. In recipe instructions, this is very common.

Un po’ di means a little, a bit of, or some.

• un po’ di olio = a little oil / some oil

The apostrophe in po’ is there because it is a shortened form of poco.

So:

• poco = little
• un poco di olio = a little oil
• un po’ di olio = the more common shortened version

A common learner mistake is writing un po di without the apostrophe. Standard Italian writes po’ with the apostrophe.

Con means with, and in cooking Italian often says with a little oil to indicate what ingredient you use for the action.

So:

• rosolare le cipolle con un po’ di olio = brown the onions with a little oil

You may also see other structures in Italian recipes, but con is very natural here because it emphasizes the ingredient used in cooking.

Italian often uses the present tense for:

• habitual actions: I usually do this
• recipe instructions told in the first person: I do this
• narrative present: this is what I do

So faccio rosolare can mean:

• I brown
• I’m browning
• I usually brown
• First, I brown...

The exact English translation depends on context, but the Italian present tense covers all of these possibilities.

Because Italian is a pro-drop language. The verb ending already shows the subject.

• faccio clearly means I do
• so io is usually unnecessary

You can add io for emphasis or contrast:

• Io faccio rosolare le cipolle, tu prepari il brodo. = I brown the onions, you prepare the broth.

But in a normal sentence, leaving it out is more natural.

It is natural and standard here because the sentence begins with an introductory phrase.

• Prima di preparare la zuppa, faccio rosolare le cipolle...

The comma helps separate the before... part from the main action. In shorter informal writing, people are sometimes less strict with commas, but this punctuation is correct and helpful.

Yes, structurally that is exactly what it looks like:

• faccio = I make / I have
• rosolare = brown
• le cipolle = the onions

So literally, it is something like I make the onions brown. But in natural English, you would usually say I brown the onions or I sauté the onions.

This is a good example of how Italian often uses a slightly different structure from English even when the meaning is simple.

Here rosolare is used as a plain infinitive after fare. The construction is:

• fare + infinitive + object

So:

• faccio rosolare le cipolle

The onions are the thing undergoing the action. There is no need for a reflexive form like rosolarsi.

A reflexive form would change the meaning or sound unnatural in this context. In recipe language, fare rosolare is the standard pattern.

Yes, you could, but it is slightly less precise.

• preparare la zuppa = to prepare the soup
• fare la zuppa = to make the soup

Both can work, but preparare often sounds a little more neutral or recipe-like, while fare is more general and very common in everyday speech.

So Prima di preparare la zuppa is a natural, slightly more specific phrasing.

The main word order is very straightforward:

• Prima di preparare la zuppa = introductory time phrase
• faccio rosolare = verb phrase
• le cipolle = direct object
• con un po’ di olio = prepositional phrase

So the structure is:

Before preparing the soup, I brown the onions with a little oil.

Italian word order is often flexible, but this version is very natural and clear.