Question 1

Why is sa used here for "tastes"? I thought sapere meant "to know".

Accepted Answer

You're right that sapere usually means "to know" a fact. However, when combined with the preposition di, it takes on a sensory meaning: "to taste of" or "to smell of." Here, sa di cannella means it has the taste of cinnamon.

Question 2

Does sapere di only mean "to taste of", or can it mean "to smell of" too? How do we know which it is here?

Accepted Answer

Sapere di covers both taste and smell. You have to rely on the context to know which one is meant. Since the sentence starts with Ciò che bevo (What I am drinking), the context makes it clear that we are talking about taste rather than smell!

Question 3

Why use ciò che instead of just cosa for "what"?

Accepted Answer

When "what" means "the thing that" in a statement, you can't use the question word cosa. You have to use a relative pronoun like ciò che or quello che. Both mean exactly the same thing and are perfectly interchangeable here.

Question 4

Why does molto go between sa and di?

Accepted Answer

In Italian, adverbs that modify the verb usually go directly after the verb. Here, molto modifies how much the drink tastes (sa), so it sits right after the verb, separating it from the preposition di.

Ciò che bevo sa molto di cannella.

Breakdown of Ciò che bevo sa molto di cannella.

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