Word
L'uomo parsimonioso decide di stringere la cinghia piuttosto che comprare qualcosa di superfluo.
Meaning
The frugal man decides to tighten his belt rather than buy something superfluous.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of L'uomo parsimonioso decide di stringere la cinghia piuttosto che comprare qualcosa di superfluo.
l'uomo
the man (m)
comprare
to buy
qualcosa
something
decidere
to decide
Questions & Answers about L'uomo parsimonioso decide di stringere la cinghia piuttosto che comprare qualcosa di superfluo.
How does piuttosto che work here, and why is it followed by the infinitive comprare?
Piuttosto che introduces an alternative, meaning "rather than" or "instead of". Because the subject of both actions (tightening the belt and buying) is the same person, Italian uses an implicit clause. This means we simply follow piuttosto che with the infinitive comprare rather than conjugating the verb.
Why is there a di in qualcosa di superfluo?
In Italian, when an indefinite pronoun like qualcosa (something) or niente (nothing) is modified by an adjective, you must link them with the preposition di. That is why "something superfluous" translates to qualcosa di superfluo.
Does stringere la cinghia carry the same metaphorical meaning in Italian as it does in English?
Why do we need di in decide di stringere?