Breakdown of Sarà in grado di finire da solo?
finire
to finish
solo
alone, lonely
essere in grado di
to be able to, to be capable of
Questions & Answers about Sarà in grado di finire da solo?
The lesson is about potere, sapere, and riuscire, so why does this sentence use essere in grado di?
Essere in grado di means "to be capable of" or "to be in a position to." It's another very common way to express ability in Italian. It is often used interchangeably with riuscire a when talking about having the physical capacity, mental capacity, or the right circumstances to complete a specific task.
Could we use riuscire or potere instead of essere in grado di here?
Yes! You could say Riuscirà a finire da solo? (Will he manage to finish on his own?) or Potrà finire da solo? (Will he be able/allowed to finish on his own?). However, riuscire a emphasizes the effort or success of managing the task, potere can sometimes imply having permission or time, while essere in grado di focuses purely on his practical capability to do it.
Why do we use the preposition di before finire?
The expression essere in grado (literally "to be in a grade/degree") always pairs with the preposition di when followed by an infinitive verb. You just have to memorize it as a fixed phrase: essere in grado di + [infinitive]. This is an important contrast to riuscire, which always takes the preposition a.
How do we know the sentence means "Will he be able to" since there is no subject pronoun like lui?
The main clue is at the end of the sentence: da solo means "by himself" and is masculine singular. If the sentence were about a woman ("Will she be able to..."), it would use the feminine da sola. Because Italian frequently drops subject pronouns, you must look at adjective endings and expressions like this to figure out who is doing the action.
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