Breakdown of Non so come cucinare le cosce di pollo.
non
not
di
of, from
come
how
cucinare
to cook
sapere
to know
la
her/it (direct object)
il pollo
the chicken
la coscia
the thigh
Questions & Answers about Non so come cucinare le cosce di pollo.
Why does cosce drop the 'i' from its singular form coscia?
This follows the spelling rule for feminine nouns ending in unstressed -cia, -gia, and -scia. If the ending is preceded by a consonant (like the s in coscia), the i is dropped in the plural. Therefore, coscia becomes cosce. If it were preceded by a vowel (like camicia), it would keep the i in the plural (camicie).
I thought sapere + infinitive already meant 'to know how to do something'. Why is come added here?
You are right that non so cucinare means 'I do not know how to cook' in a general sense, meaning you lack the skill entirely. However, adding come focuses on the specific method for these ingredients. Non so come cucinare le cosce di pollo means you might be a good cook, but you just do not know the right recipe or technique for these specific chicken thighs.
Why do we say cosce di pollo instead of putting the words next to each other like in English?
Italian does not stack nouns together to create descriptions like English does with 'chicken thighs'. To describe the type, material, or origin of a noun, you use the preposition di followed by the second noun. So, 'chicken thighs' literally translates to 'thighs of chicken' (cosce di pollo).
Is coscia only used for cuts of meat, or does it also mean a human thigh?
It is used for both! La coscia is the regular anatomical word for the thigh of a human, as well as the word for that specific cut of meat from an animal.
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