"Non è la forchetta dell'uomo."

[janeann]

Oh no. That's crazy and now I have to start all over. "The fork is not of the man?" Come on. The owl needs to dry those tears and give me this one.

[Schatzie14]

I am just starting and first sentence I could not translate into english, but read in Italian, just forget and grind it, last chapter...

[Jared5788]

That's how I answered and they gave it to me. I guess they listened to you!

[Karloren]

really!!!!

[Quazar]

This sentence just confused the hell out of me. When you hover over the word for the translation it gives the same word.

[JuveJay]

It's a bug they are working on. It means "of the"

[TatianaSujet]

Exactly! I have been thinking too long, what is the meaning of that sentence. In the end I wrote it well. ;-) Sometimes is Duolingo super confusing! :-D

[FreddieMcFee]

Isn't that weird?

[simona36586]

Que

[JozefM]

why can"t I say No, it is not the man's fork.? Is it the double negative? Or better stated Why won't it accept my translation, is it the double negative?

[JuveJay]

It's a computer, and you can't add words into the translation that it's not expecting. "Non è la forchetta dell'uomo." does not have a NO in it. Otherwise it would be "No, non è la forchetta dell'uomo."
Funny you should bring up double negatives, because Italian requires them. If you want you say, "I never drive", in Italian it would be "Non mai guido." Litterally, "I not never drive", but to make it good English, you have to change it to either "I never drive" or "I do not ever drive"

[Meredith926661]

"No, it is not the man's fork" would be "No, non è la forchetta dell'uomo." When there isn't a No at the front in italian, there's not a No in the front in english.

[McIntyreAngela]

why is it dell' It is only one man eg de + il = del

[sharkbbb]

• del = di+il (masculine singular)
• dello = di+lo (masculine singular before s+consonant, gn, pn, ps, x, z, i+vowel, y+vowel)
• dell' = di+l' (masculine & feminite singular before a vowel)
• della = di+la (feminite singular)
• delle = di+le (feminite plural)
• dei = di+i (masculine plural)
• degli = di+gli (masculine plural before a vowel, s+consonant, gn, pn, ps, x, z, i+vowel, y+vowel)

[solangefer236443]

Super sharkbbb

[n0lsk1]

You just answered your own question :)

[LlamaNation01]

Genetive case?

[ratefreakman]

I wrote 'of that' why is that wrong

[sharkbbb]

The meaning is somewhat different.

• Non è la forchetta dell'uomo = It is not the fork of the man
• Non è la forchetta di quell'uomo = It is not the fork of that man

[ratefreakman]

ohh ok thank you :)

[Karloren]

need it right, here is the anser it is not the mans fork

[tkvaldez]

let's try to make sensible sentences here please? Come on... it's not his fork?

[Karloren]

We know tkvaldez

[rerekrln]

How do we say "it is not the man's" in Italian? without mentioning the object (fork).

[JuveJay]

Non è dell'uomo. It is not the man's.

Non è il suo. / Non è la sua. It is not his. (depends on what "it" is. Make the suo/sua match the gender of "it". They both also mean "It is not hers.")

[rerekrln]

thank you :)

[CJP22]

There was an error in the app, I gave the correct answer & it didn't recognise it

[Hagix]

As James Brown sang: It's not a man's, man's fork... :-)

[robertberr19]

la verdura is vegatables (plural) la forchetta is the fork (singular) - Che cosa!!

[YuriGagarin12]

Ok wow, how is the fork doesn't belong to the man not accepted?

[Nattristis]

already knowing french can help translate through the words order,
"non e la forchetta dell'uomo"
"non est la fourchette de l'homme/la fourchette n'est pas_à l'homme"
"not is the fork that man's"/"it's not that man's fork"
figure out that word order and you'll be fine from here if you encounter more of them.
edit* no idea if it's its proper word order.

[beaumark]

Is this an idiom? Either translation is awkward in English.

[JuveJay]

No, it literally means "It is not the fork of the man" A better English translation would be "It's not the man's fork." It is a mechanism for expressing possession. They have possessive pronouns, so if you wanted to say "It's not his fork", you would say, "Non è la sua forcchetta". The "sua" agrees in gender with the noun it's modifying not the person it refers to.

[LoicKho]

Great. The translation of "dell" is apparently dell

[JuveJay]

It's a bug. Italian is still in beta. It means, "of the".

[fransua_arg]

one optional translation should be: is not the man's fork

[sharkbbb]

Unlike Italian, English language requires a subject (pronoun). In this case:

• It is not the man's fork.

[JuveJay]

Dell' is the contraction of della which means "of the" in the feminine form. Unfortunately, it makes the sentence grammatically incorrect. It should be "Non è la forchetta del uomo." Della is formed from "di la" and del is formed from "di il"

[Lemuralio]

Are you sure? According to this article (http://italian.about.com/library/fare/blfare125a.htm), dell' is used when the noun is singular, masculine, and begins with a vowel.

[JuveJay]

I was wrong. What they have is correct. You use the double L apostrophe before a noun that starts with a vowel regardless of gender.

[mskycc3]

But only if it's singular.

For a plural noun beginning with a vowel:
M: dell' (s.) -> degli (pl.)
F: dell' (s.) -> delle (pl.)

[Teresinha]

l'uomo > di + l' = dell'uomo