Breakdown of Dovresti comprare questa carne tenera; è facile da cucinare.
essere
to be
questa
this (feminine)
facile
easy
comprare
to buy
la carne
the meat
dovere
must
cucinare
to cook
da
to (purpose/necessity after a noun)
tenero
tender
Questions & Answers about Dovresti comprare questa carne tenera; è facile da cucinare.
Why is da used between facile and cucinare?
This is the structure you are currently learning! When an adjective like facile (easy) or difficile (difficult) describes a subject that receives the action of the infinitive verb, we connect them with da. While English simply says "easy to cook", the Italian facile da cucinare translates closer to "easy to be cooked".
Why use the conditional dovresti instead of the present tense devi?
Dovresti is the conditional form of dovere (to have to / must). Using the conditional softens the verb so it means "you should". This turns what would otherwise be a strict command (devi comprare, you must buy) into a piece of advice or a friendly recommendation.
Carne ends in "-e". How can we tell its gender just by looking at this sentence?
Nouns ending in "-e" can be either masculine or feminine, but the words attached to it here give the answer away. Both the demonstrative adjective questa (this) and the descriptive adjective tenera (tender) end in "-a", confirming that carne is a feminine noun.
If I rephrased this to "It is easy to cook this meat," would I still use da?
No, you would drop the preposition entirely. If you use the impersonal structure where the infinitive comes right after the adjective, you just say È facile cucinare questa carne. You only use da when the thing receiving the action (the meat) is placed before the adjective, like in our example sentence.
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