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Lilian, the verb "start" doesn't request the infinitive? "start to do something", then, is not "you hadn't started", but "I hadn't started". Not "early in the evening", but yesterday evening. Anyway thank you very much for the tenses.

and which is better, "cook" or "bake"?

La sera prima = yesterday evening

Also, I think ->se non avessi cominciato = if I hadn't started, hard to say because of the lack of context but more logical at first sight.

"Start" is usually followed by a gerund. About "cuocere", it may be "cook", "bake" or even "steam", it depends on what comes after it.
cuocere al forno, cuocere al vapore, cuocere allo spiedo, etc
Since the kind wasn't specified I chose "cook" which has a general meaning. I agree that a turkey is usually "baked" though.

Anyway it seems that my understanding is not correct seeing that Guilon voted against the translation. Let's see what else is wrong.

Guilon?

CC: guilon

Oh you were faster!

I know that "la sera prima" means "the evening before", but it doesn't make sense in this case, don't you think?
That's why I thought that "prima" should be "early"

You are right, the whole text is a bit misleading, but on the other hand, there is no way an Italian speaker could understand "la sera prima" as "early in the evening".

As for "se non avessi cominciato a cuocere", if it was a "you" action, I think an Italian would naturally say "se tu non avessi cominciato a cuocere" in order to make a clear difference of subjects in the two sentences.

I don't agree about the verb "start". A gerund is requested after "stop", for example. "start" has a view in the future. "Stop" breaks an action and that's why it requests a gerund. I think you are right, "an evening before" is not the best translation, maybe "yesterday evening", or maybe your translation is ok. Anyway you helped me a lot with the tenses, thank you

Thank you, Lilian. Thank you, Guilon

Oana, lilian speaks English so well that she is an expert for that language in cucumis.

From Oxford dictionary:


start |stärt|

• [with infinitive or present participle ] embark on a continuing action or a new venture : I started to chat to him | we plan to start building in the fall.

Guilon, I think there is no need for you to be ironic, I know very well Lilian is an expert, though I can say my opinion, or not? If someone doesn't agree with me, he/she can explain why, without having the attitude you had. I just know that the professors made a clear distinction about the situations when to use "infinitive" and when "gerund" regarding the verb "start". I am not English native speaker, so I am interested to discuss with native speakers, to be contradicted, but I do not like ironical answers.

Oana,

Many verbs in English may be followed either by an infinitive or by a gerund. The use of the gerund after verbs like: stop, finish, begin, start, is a lot more common than the infinitive. That's because as we say, they are kind of "prepositional" verbs, that means it's like if a preposition is included in the verb. And as you know after a preposition, a gerund is used.

And...I don't think Guilon was "ironic", he just tried to show you that you had a wrong idea about something. That's something to thank for, we are learning each day.

Thank you, Lilian, for your explanations, this what I like and what I am thankful for. You know I rejected the translations of this text 2 times without any comment. I started to comment when you translated it, because I know a native speaker can give good explanations, and this is what you did. I cannot be thankful for something else, especially when that something comes from an administrator. I hate this discussion

I think that the right translation of "la sera prima" is "yesterday evening". "Early in the evening"can be traslate " la sera sul presto".

wild turkey is correct

wild turkey??? you are kidding, aren't you?