Breakdown of Prima di migrare, gli uccelli mangiano tanto.
l'uccello
the bird (m)
tanto
so much, a lot / as (in comparisons)
mangiare
to eat
prima di
before (doing something) / before (a noun / point in time)
migrare
to migrate
Questions & Answers about Prima di migrare, gli uccelli mangiano tanto.
Why is there no il before migrare here, since the lesson is about substantivized infinitives like il migrare?
The fixed phrase prima di (before) takes the plain infinitive directly. While you would use the article for a noun-like subject, as in il migrare è faticoso (migrating is tiring), the article is dropped after most standard prepositions like di, a, or per when expressing an action.
The English translation says 'Before migrating'. Why don't we use the gerund migrando?
In Italian, a gerund (words ending in -ndo) is never used immediately after a preposition. Whenever English has a preposition followed by an '-ing' verb, Italian uses a preposition followed by the infinitive.
Could I say prima che gli uccelli migrino instead?
It is grammatically possible but feels unnatural here. When the subject of both verbs is the same (the birds migrate and the birds eat), Italian strongly prefers prima di + infinitive. You generally use prima che + subjunctive when the subjects are different.
Learn Prima di migrare, gli uccelli mangiano tanto and more in Italian
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free