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Invece di essere sedentario, cammino ogni giorno.

Invece di essere sedentario, cammino ogni giorno.
Instead of being sedentary, I walk every day.
From Lesson 259:Expressing alternatives (invece di, anziché)·Italian

Breakdown of Invece di essere sedentario, cammino ogni giorno.

essere
to be
il giorno
day
camminare
to walk
ogni
every
invece di
instead of
sedentario
sedentary

Questions & Answers about Invece di essere sedentario, cammino ogni giorno.

Why do we use the infinitive essere here rather than a gerund like in the English translation 'being'?
In Italian, prepositions like di must be followed by a verb in its infinitive (dictionary) form. So, the phrase invece di (instead of) always takes an infinitive to express 'instead of doing' something.
Could I use anziché in this sentence instead of invece di?
Absolutely. You could say Anziché essere sedentario, cammino ogni giorno. They mean the exact same thing, but notice that anziché connects directly to the infinitive without needing the preposition di.
Sedentario is masculine singular. How do we know who it refers to since essere is just an infinitive?
The adjective describes the person performing the action in the main part of the sentence (cammino, meaning 'I walk'). Since sedentario is masculine, we know the speaker is male. A female speaker would change it to sedentaria.
I've also learned tutti i giorni for 'every day'. Could I use that instead of ogni giorno?
Yes, they are completely interchangeable here. Just remember the grammar rule: ogni is always followed by a singular noun with no article (ogni giorno), whereas tutti requires the definite article and a plural noun (tutti i giorni).

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