Question 1

Why does the sentence use the infinitive iniziare instead of conjugating it like "before we start"?

Accepted Answer

In Italian, when you want to say "before doing something," you use prima di followed by the infinitive of the verb, as long as the subject is the same for both actions. Since "we" are putting on the wetsuit and "we" are starting the dive, we use prima di iniziare (before starting).

Question 2

Does indossiamo mean "we wear" or "we are putting on"?

Accepted Answer

It can mean both! The verb indossare means both "to wear" and "to put on" clothing. Here, the context of doing it before a dive tells us it means "we put on." You could also use the reflexive verb mettersi, but indossare is a great, simple alternative.

Question 3

Why is it la muta (the wetsuit) instead of le mute (the wetsuits) if "we" are multiple people?

Accepted Answer

In Italian, it is very common to use the singular form for items of clothing or body parts when each person has exactly one of them. Even though there are multiple people and multiple wetsuits in reality, Italian phrasing prefers la muta to express "each of us puts on our own wetsuit."

Question 4

I learned that "before" is prima. Why do we need the di here?

Accepted Answer

You use prima by itself when it acts as an adverb meaning "earlier" or "beforehand" (for example, mangio prima - I eat beforehand). But when you are linking it to a specific action to say "before doing something," it acts as a preposition and requires di before the infinitive verb.

Indossiamo la muta prima di iniziare l'immersione.

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