Breakdown of Spero che sia facile digerire questo cibo.
essere
to be
questo
this (masculine)
facile
easy
il cibo
the food
sperare
to hope
che
that (conjunction introducing a clause)
digerire
to digest
Questions & Answers about Spero che sia facile digerire questo cibo.
Why do we use sia here instead of è?
Sia is the present subjunctive form of essere (to be). We must use the subjunctive here because the sentence starts with spero che (I hope that). Verbs expressing hope, wishes, or doubt trigger the subjunctive mood in the connected clause.
What is the subject of sia in this sentence?
Why isn't there a preposition here, like facile da digerire?
If the food were the subject, you would use da, as in: Spero che questo cibo sia facile da digerire (I hope this food is easy to digest). However, in our sentence, the action itself is the subject. When an adjective like facile describes an infinitive verb that acts as the subject, you attach the infinitive directly without any preposition.
Could I change the word order to Spero che digerire questo cibo sia facile?
Yes, you absolutely can! Both word orders are completely correct and natural. The original sentence simply places sia facile earlier to put slightly more emphasis on the hope that the process will be "easy".
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