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Aggiungo venti grammi di sale.

Aggiungo venti grammi di sale.
I add twenty grams of salt.
From Lesson 94:The partitive pronoun (ne)·Italian

Breakdown of Aggiungo venti grammi di sale.

di
of, from
venti
twenty
aggiungere
to add
il sale
salt
il grammo
gram

Questions & Answers about Aggiungo venti grammi di sale.

How would I rewrite this sentence to say 'I add twenty grams of it' using the pronoun ne?
You would replace di sale (of salt) with the pronoun ne. Because ne usually goes right before the conjugated verb, the sentence becomes: Ne aggiungo venti grammi.
Why does aggiungo have a hard 'g' sound when the infinitive aggiungere has a soft 'g'?
In Italian, the letter g is hard (like in 'go') before a, o, and u, but soft (like in 'gel') before e and i. Since the 'I' form ends in o, aggiungo gets a hard sound, while forms like aggiungi (you add) get a soft sound.
Why do we use just di here instead of combining it with 'the' to make del sale?
When you specify an exact measurement or container (like venti grammi, a liter, a cup) followed by the substance, you always use the simple preposition di. You only use del (some salt) when the exact quantity isn't specified, like Aggiungo del sale (I add some salt).
I remember sale being a verb. Why is it used here?
You are thinking of the verb salire (to go up), which becomes sale for 'he/she/it goes up'. They are spelled exactly the same, but here sale is a masculine noun meaning 'salt'. You can tell from the context of cooking and measuring grams!

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