"Ce livre est facile à lire."

Translation: This book is easy to read.

[ztgarrett]

Is there a rule for when "à" should appear in a sentence like this? I'm not sure when the "to" is implied by the infinitive form of the verb and when it isn't.

[Sitesurf]

No, it is attached to "facile": easy to do = facile à faire

[ThanKwee]

Hello Sitesurf. But wouldn't one say "C'est facile de lire ce livre"

[Sitesurf]

Yes, when the construction is impersonal:

c'est facile à lire (c' is a real subject, representing a book, an article, etc.)

il est / c'est facile de lire ce livre (impersonal)

ce livre est facile à lire (real subject)

[sabrah786]

This is still confusing to me.

[Nate_Rardin]

"à" is attached to facile when the subject is a real thing you're talking about. (A personal subject), but when it's like a general case it's used with "de" (this case is an impersonal subject)

At least that's my understanding of it.

[ThanKwee]

Merci

[philipo79]

Does this work with any adjective?
is/am/are ADJECTIVE à INFINITIVE?

[Sitesurf]

Not all adjectives, but a number of them, including idioms:

• ce garçon est bête à pleurer (dumb as a bag of hammers)

[philipo79]

Je suis bête à pleurer. C'est plus facile à lire que d'ecrir

[Sitesurf]

C'est plus facile à lire qu'à écrire

[keno42]

Did not accept Simple instead of easy.

[PetiteLearner101]

I put "This book is easy to eat."

Must. Engage. Brain.

[1dad1kid]

Is there an easy way to remember when it's ce vs c'est? I keep struggling with this for some reason

[Sitesurf]

If I understand your question: "ce" comes in front of a noun, because it is a single adjective (this book)

[1dad1kid]

But c'est livre can also mean 'this book." I'm trying to figure out when c'est livre would be used instead of ce livre and vice versa.

[Sitesurf]

No, "c'est livre" would mean "this is book" and it does not work in either language.

this book = ce livre

this is a book = c'est un livre

this is the book = c'est le livre

[1dad1kid]

That helps. Thanks

[quynguyenvan]

This book is easy for reading-> wrong