When to use de + verb (infinitive)

Portuguese Questions Grammar
1

I have two cards:
Esta é a receita mais fácil de seguir
É divertido brincar com os meus netos
Each of these is conjugated ser + adverb + infinitive
When do you use de? Is it dependent on the adverb or the infinitive? Is the verb ser important here in determining when de is used?

2

@mehzpez, in the sentence “Esta é a receita mais fácil de seguir”, the infinitive “seguir” is a complement. As such, it needs to be connected to the rest of the sentence via the preposition ‘de’. But in the sentence “É divertido brincar com os meus netos”, the infinitive would actually be the subject (more obvious if you reorder the sentence to “Brincar com os meus netos é divertido”). In this case, no connecting preposition is needed.

So, basically, if the infinitive is the subject, no preposition is needed and adding it would be grammatically incorrect. Otherwise, we’ll need the preposition there :slight_smile:

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3

Thank you that helps a lot

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4

É difícil subir estas escadas

Tu és fácil de entender

First sentence the verb follows the adjective. Second sentence there is a de in between. How do you decide?

5

@mhalai, I moved your post to this other forum topic where the same question was answered :slight_smile:

Basically, as explained higher up, it has to do with the function of the infinitive in each sentence. In the first example, the infinitive is a subject, so it doesn’t need a preposition (this is more obvious if you reorder the words to “Subir estas escadas é difícil”). In the second example, the infinitive is a complement, which is why it needs the preposition just before.