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La carne è tenera da tagliare, ma il pane è duro da masticare.

La carne è tenera da tagliare, ma il pane è duro da masticare.
The meat is tender to cut, but the bread is hard to chew.
From Lesson 272:Adjectives with infinitives (bello da vedere)·Italian

Questions & Answers about La carne è tenera da tagliare, ma il pane è duro da masticare.

Why is da used before the verbs tagliare and masticare instead of a or di?
In Italian, when an adjective describes a quality of a noun in relation to an action (like being tender to cut or hard to chew), we use the preposition da followed by the infinitive. This is a set structure you are learning in this lesson: subject + essere + adjective + da + infinitive verb.
Why does tenera end in -a while duro ends in -o?
The adjectives are describing the nouns, not the verbs. Tenera is feminine singular to agree with la carne, while duro is masculine singular to agree with il pane. Even though they are followed by the da + infinitive structure, standard adjective agreement rules still apply to the noun.
Both carne and pane end in -e. Is there a rule for their genders?
Nouns ending in -e can be either masculine or feminine, so there is no simple rule based on the ending alone. You just have to memorize them! A good habit is to always learn the definite article along with the noun: memorize la carne (feminine) and il pane (masculine).
Is this da + infinitive structure related to phrases like qualcosa da mangiare (something to eat)?
Yes, exactly! In both cases, da + infinitive expresses the purpose, potential, or passive nature of a noun. Just like qualcosa da mangiare means something that is meant to be eaten, tenera da tagliare means the meat is tender when it is being cut.

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