65 Comments
In English, I think "How many girls eat?" would be seen as a very strange question because the answer would inevitably have to be "Well, all of them. Humans must all eat to survive, after all." Wouldn't "How many girls are eating?" be more accurate?
It could be a reasonable question depending on the conversation. For example, if we were talking about a restaurant or the school cafeteria and I asked, the answer probably would not be "All of them." It could be a specific number during a certain period of time, or a percentage of all the girls. It could even be "None!" (Because they do not like our menu, or because they eat at the new place/in their house, etc.)
To make sense in English you would need another qualifier, like "How many girls eat here?" or "How many girls eat between noon and 1:00?" With no other qualifiers, asking "Does the girl eat?" means you are asking whether the girl eats at all, ever. So, of course all girls eat, unless they are starving themselves.
I think the question is posed this way in order for us to understand the translation more clearly. Yes it doesn't make total sense in English to say it this way, but for the purpose of learning Italian it is easier not to have the added complexity of the word "are" in the sentence which is not the focus of this excercise.
Both "eat" and "are eating" are accepted in the system. "Eat" is the default translation (the one that shows up first) for the reasons SophiaTrev mentioned, since you have not yet seen the present progressive in Italian at this point in the tree.
The present tense can mean something is currently happening or something is generally true. So in this case, it could mean "How many girls eat?" (general truth) or "How many girls are eating?" (currently happening).
I was confused because at first I thought it meant "How many girls do they eat?" Yikes.
105
It should be accepted and it actually makes more sense than "how many girls eat."
well, couldnt it also mean, if we want to be exact in our translations, "How many girls are they eating/do they eat?" "They" would be understood of course... it was actually my first association, watching too many criminal investigation series maybe.
Yes. Often the Present Continuous is expressed in the Preset tense in Italian. Only when you wish to emphasize that you are "right now, in the process of doing something", will you use the form "Quante ragazze stanno mangiando?".
@LindaLee - Not exactly. Stanno is the plural form of "stare" and stare nearly always acts as the auxiliary verb with the gerundio form of the main verb. (There are some uses of the gerundio that don't take stare as an auxiliary)
"Stanno mangiando" = they are eating, and they are doing it right now, as we watch
"Sto bevendo" = I am in the process drinking, see me lift my cup
"Sta camminando" = He/She/It is walking and the action is still happening at this point in time
Etcetera.
Hope this helps.
The order defines the meaning. In this case the sentence would be "Quanto mangiano le ragazze?". I'm not sure if "Quanto le ragazze mangiano?" is also correct. In the original sentence "quante" refers to the ragazze so it is not correct to translate that way.
Olivictor u r a legend what you are saying seems so obvious...now that i read it
But wait...Olivictor if i was a monster and i wanted to know how many girls i eat...would i say "quanto ragazze mangio" if it is we u and me eating the girls or about to would we not say "quanto ragazze mangiamo"
Ok, aside from being a weird question, why does DL not accept 'How many girls do eat?'
Absolutely. How many girls ARE eating? How DO you feel? How much money DO you have? How many girls DO eat? I also do not understand why the latter is not accepted. Is my English that poor? :(
How many girls do eat sounds out of context for anything except : "Hardly any of them eat." "Well then how many girls do eat?" With emphasis on the do. Anything else sounds weird.
How sould you say 'how many girls do they eat?'. Its a weird sentence but I can't help but wonder now that I thought about it.
There needs to be something like "do" or "do the" in between much and girls, so no.
I also thought that this question could mean " how much" because quante asks for quantity right? So it made more sense to question the quantity of food the girls are eating
- 105
It's "how much do the girls eat". And in Italian it would be "Quanto mangiano le ragazze"
All those who are not "in the zoo". I hope we won't learn about them when translating "eaten".
I made a mistake in gender as translate :How many boys eat? but the solution also confusing as states as correct answer : "How many kids eat ?" (instead of girls)
Does anyone else have an impossible time telling the audio apart between 'ragazze' and 'ragazzi?'
If you say how many , it is always wrong who says how much do the girls eat. Who knows??
the i in mangiano is not pronounced. I thought all vowels are pronounced separately.
Why not quanti ragazzi mangiano?Am I hearing it wrong? Is it is the pronunciation?
How do I know it doesn't mean, "How much do the girls eat?" or even, "How many girls do they eat"? - in the latter case, "they" being dragons perhaps...
Wouldn't the say Quante ragazze sei mangiano? Or is this just another strange Duolingo phrase?Quante ragazze stanno mangiando stasera?
