Breakdown of Il cuoco è lieto di preparare questo antipasto.
essere
to be
questo
this (masculine)
preparare
to prepare
il cuoco
the cook / the chef
di
to (linking a verb to a following infinitive)
lieto
glad
l'antipasto
the appetizer (m)
Questions & Answers about Il cuoco è lieto di preparare questo antipasto.
Why do we use di before preparare instead of a?
In Italian, adjectives that express emotions, feelings, or states of mind like lieto (glad), felice (happy), or triste (sad) are followed by the preposition di when connecting to an infinitive verb like preparare.
Is lieto interchangeable with felice or contento here?
Yes, they are very similar in meaning. Lieto means glad or pleased, and sounds slightly more formal or polite than felice (happy) or contento (glad). All three of these emotion adjectives require di before an infinitive verb.
Could I write quest'antipasto with an apostrophe instead of questo antipasto?
Yes! Because antipasto starts with a vowel, you can drop the final o in questo and use an apostrophe. Both questo antipasto and quest'antipasto are completely correct, though the apostrophe version is very common in fast, spoken Italian.
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