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I think it is important for the software to give us the Italian at the same speed that we would normally hear it in conversation. We speak English rapidly and don't even realize it. I like that we can slow it down with the by clicking on the turtle icon. Even though you may not hear every vowel or consonant sound, believe me they are there, though possible abreviated in everyday speech. My experience with language is that my ear will adjust and tune in after awhile and once I get used to it, I do begin to hear and pronounce every sound properly. It just takes practice.
—lei (Lei at beginning) is she.
But in formal talk —Lei means You. Like every romance language Italian is very distinctive from casual talk and formal talk.
The difference is found on the context.
Just want to clarify... are you supposed to say the "un" or is it just in there quickly?
Yes the vocalization is way too fast.
Where do I find the list to know when to use the variation of verbs?
Hi everyone. Is it "LEI" means "HE"? Why is this post shown as Lei means You? Tq.
"Lei" means "she," "lui" means "he." "Lei" also means "you" in a formal setting.
Lei scrive = She writes Lui scrive = He writes
Tu scrivi = You write (to someone you know well) Lei scrive (same as EX1) = You write (to someone you may not know, or perhaps someone you only know on a professional level, like a boss)
There are two ways to distinguish between when "lei" means "she" and when "Lei" means "you":
1) This way only works in writing and also doesn't always work, as words are always capitalized at the beginning of sentences in Italian and the subject usually comes first, but "lei" with a lowercase l strictly means she and "Lei" with a capital L means "you" (but it could mean she at the beginning of a sentence)
Io scrivo, lei scrive = I write, she writes Io scrivo, Lei scrive = I write, you write Lei scrive = she writes OR you write
2) Context. Context, context, context. Especially in spoken Italian where there is no phonetic difference between uppercase and lowercase letters. Perhaps in seeing a sentence like "Lei scrive un libro" you may not know whether it means "she" or "you," but in spoken language you'd be able to tell. Are they talking AT you? They mean Lei as in you. Are they talking TO you? They mean lei as in she.
Hope this helps.
un, uno = masculine indefinite articles una, un' = feminine indefinite articles
I'm not sure if you're familiar with the definite articles il, la, lo, l', i, le, gli... but if you are, then you'd use un for masculine words that take il or l', uno for words that take lo, una for words that take la, and un' for feminine words that take l'.
If you don't know the definite article rules:
un = for masculine words that begin with either a vowel sound or most consonants (EX: un uomo, un libro)
uno = for masculine words that begin with z, s + another consonant, gn, foreign letters, and more rare letter clusters (EX: uno zoo)
una = for any feminine word that begins with any consonant (EX: una donna)
un' = for any feminine word that begins with a vowel (EX: un'automobile)
if you are supposed to use "un" when its masculine and "una" when its feminine, then how do you decide when to use them when you are talking about an object that has no gender? like a book has no gender so how do you know if you should use un or una? also, why wouldnt you say "una" or "uno" because the first letter of "libro" is "l" which is a consonant and isnt una/uno supposed to be used for consonants? can someone please tell me when to use un and una.
I just answered this for someone else, so I'll copy and paste here:
un = for masculine words that begin with either a vowel sound or most consonants (EX: un uomo, un libro) uno = for masculine words that begin with z, s + another consonant, gn, foreign letters, and more rare letter clusters (EX: uno zoo, uno gnu) una = for any feminine word that begins with any consonant (EX: una donna) un' = for any feminine word that begins with a vowel (EX: un'automobile)
As for the gender question, you seem to have a slight misunderstanding of what gender is in the Italian language. Every noun in Italian is gendered... technically, yes, a book is not a man nor a woman, but in Italian, it's masculine. You'd always say "il libro" or "un libro" and NEVER "la libro" or "una libro." Similarly to how "zuppa" is feminine, you'd always say "la zuppa" and never "lo zuppa."
Most words that end in o are masculine, most words that end in a are feminine, and words that end in e or a consonant (words ending in consonants are more than likely foreign words and therefore assigned masculine by default) can be either.
so every word in the italian language has a gender....... How do you know/decide what the 'gender' of a word is?
Yes, every word has gender. I explained how you can determine the gender of a noun in that last paragraph, but keep in mind these rules are not always followed. The best way to determine the gender of a word is to just memorize the definite article with it.
This is unclear but i got it correct they need to pronounce it more clearly or possibly slower
For "Lei scrive un libro" I translated "She wrote a book." But apparently that's wrong. Scrive shows "wrote" as one of the meanings though. =(
This tense that we are now learning is continous or simple. Is she in the middle of writing a book but not nesserly at the moment. Or is this sentence mean that she is right now in the process of typing letters. To put it simple she writes or she is writing or both
Both the simple present and the continuous are acceptable ways of translating the sentence.
I dont really understand all the present and past tenses of read. There are so many! What's the difference?
"she write" is only correct when English uses the subjunctive. The proper and mainly used way is "she writes" because that's how English verbs conjugate.
I write
You write
He/she/it writes
We write
They write
I accidentally put she write a book and don't get an almost correct. That's was very irritating.
It really isn't necessary to have comments on answers... We should have feedback instead!!!
To translate the sentence correctly into English it would be 'she wrote a book'.
If Lei is used for formal occasion, when do you use Voi? Why is it not translated as She writes a book? If Lei is she...
"lei" does mean "she". It also means "you", but only in the formal sense (like if you were talking to someone older or to your boss at work).
"voi", on the other hand, is the plural form of "you".
"you are women" would be "voi siete donne" because "you" is referring to more than one person in the second person singular form.
How am i suppose to know which one I'm suppose to use, same with read and drink?
No, "ragazza" is "girl", "ragazze" is "girls". "Reggazze" doesn't mean anything.
"lui" is "he".
I have a trick to remember it. Do you know the character Luigi from Mario? Well, if you break up the name "Luigi", you get "lui-gi". Luigi is a male character, so "lui" is "he" in Italian.
For lei (she), I think of princess Leia from Star Wars. "lei" is she in italian.
That's right. It's these simple tricks that work very well for language learning.
Lei is used in formal conversation, for strangers or in business situations. It is the formal "you" but it is conjugated third-person. For example, to ask a teacher or a stranger how they are, say "Come sta?" While it means, "how are you" the third-person is a sign of respect. To say "come stai?" would be seen as disrespectful. Also, regsur's explanation should be "Lei scrive" Lei is both masculine and feminine formal. Loro is the plural formal.
Yea, but 'Lei (formal) you' is always capitalised whereas 'lei (she) isn't, apart from at the beginning of a sentence. So if you see 'Lei è' during a sentence it means 'you (formal) are. I believe that's right anyway?
