Buongiorno.
Could someone please simplify an explanation of when to use "Più...di" versus "più...che" with nouns?
Here is what I understand:
María è più elegante di Elisabetta. (This is a comparison on the subject and another noun or pronoun in terms of a shared describer/adjective)
Noi andiamo più al cinema che al teatro. (Here the subject and verb are the same for the items being compared. The contrast is between two objects, neither one of which is the subject.)
Now here is where I get confused
La vita nei paesi è meno stressante __(????)_____ nelle città.
The book says to use "meno...che". I thought it would be "meno stressante di nella città". Is this because "nella" is a preposition, not a noun????
I have searched all over the internet and just get more confused. Any help you can offer to un-confuse me would be greatly appreciated.
Grazie mille.
drrdn: Your responses to my questions are clear and easy to understand. Thanks soooo much for taking the time to answer me.
Ciao ciao for now.
In that case you could say either:
La vita nei paesi è meno stressante della vita nelle città
Or
La vita nei paesi è meno stressante che nelle città
Your book suggests the second option because you don't have to add the noun "vita" a second time. The use of "che" instead of "di" is justified by the fact that you have a preposition (nelle) preceding the noun. You can use "di" if the noun or pronoun in the second term of comparison is not preceded by a preposition.
