251 Comments
Is that a turtle shouting, or is it just saying it veeeerrrryyy sloooowwwllllyyy?
Sigh... I guess I'll take down the sign saying "ALL INTRUDING NINJA TURTLES WILL BE HACKED TO DEATH WITH A CHAINSAW"
Italian: la tartaruga puo leggere, ma la tartaruga non vuole leggere. English: the turtle can read, but the turtle does not want to read. =)
Maybe if we put le tartaruge in decent schools we wouldn't have this issue to begin with!
That's right! The turtle doesn't read but the monkey does. Maybe there is only one book?
yes, and it is written in monkeys language therefore turtles can't read it. :S
Whenever I come across these types of sentences I look at the comments.. Always get the giggles
I've just seen there even were comments! Laughing so loud my friend's asked what was going on...
It says "Website not available"....maybe la scimmia is busy with mangia lo zucchero.
MichCooley: You got me! Seeing there was yet a-n-o-t-h-e-r comment on this, I almost didn't, but like our hapless turtle I decided to stick my neck out to see if it changed how most of us feel about the sentence or make me laugh: no on the former, yes on the latter. Allora tanta grazie da parte di un tifoso appassionato della tartaruga.
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Turtles these days are getting lazy. They only want to spend time in front of their computers.
well, it may be because you commented on it 2 years ago, but at least now it does sound like "tartaruga"
I think their pronunciation of tartaruga is wrong - the stress is in the wrong place in the word. I have reported it.
I just disable the voice, I only go for remembering the words on paper. That voice confuses the crap outta me!!!
A very useful sentence in a variety of real-life contexts, but you'll have to come out of your shell and stick your neck out to do so. :-)
I find it humorous that we are all the ones trying to learn Italian, but we’re pretty quick to say the program/voice is wrong ha
I am forever going to confuse the pronunciation for tartaruga with the Portuguese. It's just a different emphasis! This is what happens when you study too many romance languages at once.
My Italian friend listend to this and said that the pronunciation is wrong. It should be: tartagUga. With the accent to the u! I`ve reported it, just like some others of you did. But keep in mind!
Lo scoiattolo One of the few lo examples that I know about Others zoo and shark And of course sugar
Wow i died laughing when i saw this... One time I got a sentence that said "The men read in the sugar" Hmmmmm.....
Angel509. Given the lack of a clearer context I don't see how you can say that. For example, a clearer context would be "La tartaruga non legge, perché non può," expressing ability, versus "La tartaruga non legge, perché non vuole," in which its preference is expressed. Both sentences could begin similarly with DL's original statement.
Ha! It better not:) If i saw a turtle reading, i dont know what i would do laugh or run. Can you even guess how long that would take? (Reading a book )
Kiprovski: Yes, if you do so very slowly, stick your neck out, and have a hard shell for the criticism that's sure to follow from those who feel that turtles and tortoises are fundamentally different. :-)
"...non lègge". I wrote the right accent on the vocal of the verb, because otherwise it might be confused with another identical word, légge, and that means Law, a completely different meaning. Actually the audio voice says légge inestead of lègge. In the latter, the è is pronounced more opened.
An accent can be optionally put on the stressed vowel in a word as a pronunciation hint; it indicates which vowel is stressed as well as which sound "e" and "o" represent. It's not mandatory as in French, but it's a nice tool when you have homographs or homophones, e.g. "àncora" (anchor) vs "ancóra" (again), or "déi romani" (some Romans, most commonly simply "dei romani") vs "dèi romani" (Roman gods).
The fact that "I've never heard of it spelled[...]" is not a Nature Rule, it's your personal opinion and in particular it's wrong. A lot of writers and even Italian on-line newspapers still do those basic mistakes, like writing perchè.
Since homographic words have different meaning and differ just from accents, it is mandatory, for the author, to write the word with the correct accent in order to avoid ambiguity.
An Italian native speaker can easily recognize the right word that is meant by the context (this doesn't necessarily mean that he is able to write it correctly). The native speaker ability to recognize those words doesn't justify the wrong use or the missing of accents.
That way nobody will get confused, and think you're saying the turtle cannot law?
I was simply commenting on the fact that Duolingo has not been teaching "lègge", unlike how it has taught to spell "dà" as opposed to "da".
Is it common practice to spell "reads" with an accent and "law" without one?
I said, "the turtle cannot read". I was corrected "the turtle does not read". It seems the former is more often likely seen in print!
Heathe5: To be precise 'cannot' and 'does not' express different ideas. Someone may be able to read, i.e., have that ability, s/he can in fact read, but does not because s/he chooses not to. On the other hand it's possible to say that someone does not read, meaning s/he lacks the ability to read i.e., cannot read. So your point I think is valid if that's what you were thinking. Not to complicate it any more than it is, but 'cannot' could express a prohibition, i.e., a lack of permission, e.g. 'one cannot read aloud (may not) since it'll disturb the others in the library." And so the person does not read. So given a clearer context the two may be synonymous or they might be different.
You have 2 conjugated verb forms: does and reads. With the auxiliary verb 'does' you need to use an infinitive form, so 'the turtle does not read." Another way of putting it is that if you remove the auxiliary verb, then you must use a conjugated form: "the turtle reads".
ha.di: You'd just have to use the modal vb potere + the infinitive: La tartaruga non può leggere. Or you can use the vb 'riuscire + a + the infinitive: La tartaruga non riesce a leggere. The latter implies a lack of ability to do the activity.
PattyAmato: The English is a bit ambiguous, the italian isn't (to my knowledge). In English 'does not read" can mean the turtle lacks the ability to read and also simply isn't reading despite having the ability. So when it's watching tv, e.g., it does not read. The Italian is simply stating the second of those possibilities. If it were saying what you suggest, it'd read: "...non puo' leggere" or " ... non riesce a leggere."
rivers...There's no word in the Italian sentence that means 'does'. English requires an auxiliary verb, whereas Italian doesn't. So to sound natural and be grammatically correct, you have to supply it in the English.
The real question is the turtle not being allowed to read? Now that is just animal neglect. Neglecting the poor turtle of its right to education!
Sorry, but in English "can" includes "knows how to". If you can drive, then you can take the car. Geddit?
Could someone explain the ending of legge. The verb to eat is mangia in 3rd person singular ending in 'a'. He or she drink - Beve ending in e as does legge. Is there a rule about these endings?
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JudithMett2, there are three types of regular verbs in Italian and they end in -are, -ire or -ere. Mangiare - to eat, to have lunch has a different ending from leggere - to read, therefore the different endings. Please google Italian verb conjugations and you will go to a site where you can conjugate any Italian verbs. Hope this helps.
The pronunciation of tartaruga is really bad, I think she was inside a shell. (turtle?)
Yes they do. We call them Raphael, Donatello, Leonardo and Michelangelo (Ninja Turtles)
If the monkey can read then why can't a turtle. It just might take the turtle a little longer to complete that task.
aprit: I think she just needs to stick her neck out, get out of her shell, and just do it.
laurynlebr: True enough, but now at least you've learned the word "tartaruga" in case you're in italy and wish to order some turtle soup, e.g. and you know the word 'leggere' so you can tell the waiter you'd like a menu to read and you've learned 'non' so you can be negative. :-)
What's the difference between 'The turtle can not read' and "The turtle does not read' how do you indicate the difference if there is one
Ah! La tartaruga! The favorite animal as far as Duolingo is concerned!!! Does not eat, drinks milk...you name it!
In the programming system Imagine Logo, a turtle is representing the software who does your orders. And there is an order called Readkey! What do you think?
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The turtle does not have time for such foolish things as reading, it has more important stuff to do.
Poor turtle's just too slow... it's tiring when you forget what happened at the top of the page when you finally reach the end of it. I suggest reading to your turtle. Be supportive!
Assuming the rest of your sentence is fine, just report it. Duo usually recognizes and accepts contractions, but maybe this one slipped by.
I know that they make our learning more fun.But,do turtles really can read??
Sorry, but she did did not say non in the quicker version. Only in the slower version. I listened to it at least four times. I protest!
Sabro4: 'cannot read' means something slightly different, namely it means the turtle doesn't have the ability to read, which granted "does not read" could also mean. "Cannot read" might also imply it doesn't have permission to read. But 'does not read' could also imply in a better context that it doesn't read e.g. when it's watching tv or doesn't read a book, though it has the ability to, but rather listens to an audio book, etc. The two versions have slightly different meanings or uses depending on the context, though on the whole I'd have to agree with you.
The first animal uninterested in academia. It's a free spirit. Like an animal or something..
Megha..."Reading" involves more than understanding the written word; we 'read' facial expressions, voice intonations, body movements all the time - and animals do too.
