"La ricetta non è facile da fare."

[laura65]

It seems you sometimes need di before the infinitive, sometimes da and sometimes nothing. What are the rules?

[dnovinc]

for me this one of more difficult aspects of italian language.
here is the link: http://italian.about.com/od/verbs/a/aa031908a.htm

[Chris123456]

Yes - really problematical. The above link is very helpful. There is a huge amount of material to learn here without any seemingly easy way to learn it. For me I found it helpful just to appreciate the concept that a verb could govern the use of these little words. Anyone know how this sort of stuff is taught to Italians? Are there any rhymes or mnemonics to help? Simple rules to follow? Or is this just a question of being familiar with the language and something that can only come with time??

[xyphax]

Good question. Also, I have a sneaky suspicion this will be a strength of using duo .. practicing these daily to recognize them might be easier in the long run than trying to formulate those lists from that excellent site

[laura65]

Thanks for the link. I will follow it and try to make sense of it.

[Marees]

as in English, prepositions are largely idiomatic and require patience.