Qual è la differenza tra "cucinare" e "cuocere"? Anche tra "Qual è" e "Cos'è" all'inizio di una frase?

Answers

zxmbiegamer

4 February

English (US)

@paoloM81 Can you give me sentences with cuocere to demonstrate its different uses? Could I have asked my first question as "Cos'è la differenza tra cuinare e cuocere?" and that would've been fine or would that have not made sense?

Petricore

4 February

Italian

@zxmbiegamer
"cucinare" is the activity of cooking, it includes preparing the food washing it, cutting it, cooking it etc.
"cuocere" refers solely to the process "raw -> cooked"
(This video may be useful https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCJShx_wTcw )

Use "Che cos'è...?" if you want to know the definition of a word, use "Qual è...?" to ask what that thing is out of many possibilities.
If you say "Cos'è la differenza tra cucinare e cuocere?" you are asking what's the meaning of "differenza", so you should ask "Qual è...?"

Highly-rated answerer

Deleted user

4 February

"Cucinare" means "to cook", meaning "to prepare a dish by following the steps from a recipe".

"A mia nonna piace cucinare" = my grandma likes to cook

"Cuocere" is a bit more pragmatic concept; moreover, it deals with the direct or indirect action of the fire and the heat.
For example, it can be used to say:

1) "cook the potatoes before frying the schnitzel"

- "cuoci le patate prima di friggere la cotoletta"

In this case, you don't say "cucina le patate", but, pragmatically speaking, you indicate the exact action to do.

2) "the sun's heating my skin SO BAD today, it's so hot"

"il sole MI sta CUOCENDO la pelle oggi, fa molto caldo"

zxmbiegamer

5 February

English (US)

@eugeniocabitta From my understanding, it seems “cuocere” is used when something is being heated no matter what’s being heated or how it’s being heated. It also seems this is more so a word to express a chemical change due to heat and that’s why it would make sense to be used during cooking

zxmbiegamer

5 February

English (US)

@Petricore Would you say “qual è” and “cos’è” are like “which is” and “what is” respectively in English?

Deleted user

5 February

@zxmbiegamer I think I couldn't explain it as perfectly as you did!

Petricore

5 February

Italian

@zxmbiegamer No, they don't translate to english perfectly, because "What is" can be both "Cos'è" and "Qual è" depending on what you're asking. Just remember that when we ask "Cos'è" we are wondering about the meaning, for all other cases, use "Qual è"

"Cos'è il tuo colore preferito?" XX = What is the meaning of "your favorite color"?? (unnatural)
"Qual è il tuo colore preferito?" ✔️✔️ = There are many possibilities, out of all colors, which one/what type of color is your favorite? -> What's your favorite color?

As you see, in english you would use "what" in this type of question, because it's not only used to ask about the meaning, but also for "what type". But in italian, "cosa" only asks for the meaning

Highly-rated answerer

zxmbiegamer

5 February

English (US)

@eugeniocabitta Ahah thanks for your help!

zxmbiegamer

5 February

English (US)

@Petricore It still seems like they mean “which is” and “what is”. In English, we don’t always use the right word to express ourselves and mix up “what” and “which”. “What” is used when there are unlimited possibilities and “which” is when there are limited possibilities. So even though we ask “What is your favorite color?”, it’s actually supposed to be “Which is your favorite color?” Can you give some sentences with “Cos’è” so I can better understand what kind of sentences it should be used with??