Breakdown of Preferisco leggere piuttosto che guardare la televisione.
guardare
to look at / to watch
la televisione
the television
leggere
to read
preferire
to prefer
che
than (in comparisons)
piuttosto
rather (piuttosto che = rather than)
Questions & Answers about Preferisco leggere piuttosto che guardare la televisione.
The lesson is about invece di and anziché, but here we see piuttosto che. Does it work exactly the same way?
Yes! Piuttosto che is another way to say "rather than" or "instead of." Just like anziché, when you use it to compare two actions, it is followed directly by the present infinitive, which is why we see guardare here.
Could I swap piuttosto che for invece di in this exact sentence?
Why doesn't preferisco need a preposition like di or a before leggere?
The verb preferire is one of those helpful verbs that connects directly to another infinitive without needing a preposition in between. You just conjugate the main verb (preferisco) and place the infinitive (leggere) right next to it.
Why do we need the article la before televisione when English just says "watching television"?
In Italian, broad categories and common recreational concepts like television almost always take a definite article. Dropping it would sound incomplete to an Italian ear, so you will almost always see la televisione or its common abbreviation la tv.
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