What is the purpose of De in “Fácil de utilizar”

Portuguese Questions
1

I understand this to mean “easy to use” but what’s the function of “de”. I’d of thought easy to use would be either fácil para utilizar or just fácil utilizar as “to use” is the infinitive. Thanks

2

@reececox2000, in this context, “de” means “to” :slight_smile: It’s not idiomatic to say “Fácil para utilizar”. On the other hand, “fácil utilizar” can be used, depending on how the full sentence is phrased. This is also explained in this other topic: When to use de + verb - Portuguese Questions / Grammar - Practice Portuguese

Have a look at the two examples below, to see what I mean:

  • A ferramenta é fácil de utilizar (The tool is easy to use) → In this sentence, the infinitive “utilizar” is a complement that needs to be connected to the rest of the sentence via the preposition ‘de’.

  • É fácil utilizar a ferramenta (It’s easy to use the tool / Using the tool is easy) → Now, in this sentence, due to the wording, the infinitive “utilizar” actually becomes the subject (more obvious if you reorder it to “Utilizar a ferramenta é fácil”). So, here, we do not use a connecting preposition in Portuguese.

Let me just add that in Portuguese, infinitives have no implied preposition in them. So, if a preposition is required, it still needs to be added before the infinitive. The English translation of an infinitive normally includes ‘to’ simply as an adaptation to English grammar.

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