45 Comments
so actually, i've been practicing for the past week and can mostly do it ... not as lovely-sounding as my Italian bf, but passable. i watched a bunch of videos, practicing tongue vibration with other sounds (zzzzzzz) and tilting my head back definitely helped. i practiced while driving (alone, of course)! this was one of the videos that helped: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKRQMCHlONU it's still hard for me to do the sound inside some words (like "birra"), but maybe by next week i'll have it down :)
Well I couldn't get the hang of rolling my r's through 5 years of French at high school and 3 years of Italian at uni, so I figure I'm a lost cause.. But I'll give the video a shot just in case :)
The capability is largely genetic or learned as a toddler, so don't beat yourself up ove'r it=D
160
I taught myself as a 20-something, so don't give up!! What helped me was beginning with an "ahhh" sound, followed by the (attempted) rolled R, so something like "ahhhhhrrrrrrr." It took me months (years?), but I finally got the hang of it. :)
I'm with you. Even if "the" is implied, I thought that the indefinite article had to precede the noun.
Sounds to me like the recorded voice utters and article of some kind between the words "beve" and "birra."
When do you use articles and when do you not use articles. ie. la birra vs. birra
So this is "She(in general) drinks beer," as opposed to"she is drinking a beer," which would be "Lei beve una birra." Right?
Yes. It's right. There was a slogan in Italy many years ago :"Chi beve birra campa cent'anni" (who drinks beer lives 100 years).
As a rule the active transitive verbs require the article before the noun.
Lei ama la birra = She loves beer
but...
the verb "bere" behaves differently. When the verb "bere" meets words as beer or wine (for a general statement) the article can be omitted.
Lei beve birra = She drinks beer
Only for advanced learners:
Sometimes you can't leave out the article in sentences like this:
"Lei beve la birra... Lo so per certo." "Davvero? Non posso crederci! E' solo una bambina!" "She drinks beer...I know it for sure." "Really? I can't believe it! She is just a child!".
Maybe here Duolingo can't help you more but out there
a fist of movies, some beer with friends and a good dictionary can make the difference :)
- 57
Ciao :) I'm comparing this sentence to its version in French: Elle boit de la bièrre. Shouldn't there be the partitive article di, too?
The sentence "Lei beve birra" means that in general she drinks beer. You can use the partitive to say: "c'e' della birra nel frigo" (there is some beer in the fridge).
- 1953
Italian works sort of the opposite of English in this regard. "Lei beve la birra" means that in general she drinks beer. "Lei beve birra" means she's drinking the serving of beer that's in front of her.
I loose too dont feel bad i was like on a 60 straight streak and speak fluent italian
The word 'birra' is stressed on the first syllable, the unstressed -a is a bit weak but still audible. As a native I can say that the recorded voice pronunciation of the word 'birra' is correct.
I'm not sure how to use the verb, "mangia." Mangete. Mangiamo. Mangiano. Mangiare???????? Confused.
- 1953
There are three basic tricks to conjugating verbs in Italian:
1. Knowing if it's regular or irregular.
2. If it's regular, following the chart below.
3. Knowing which -ire form to use when applicable.
The infinitive of "to eat" in Italian is regular: "mangiare". So all you need to do is follow the -are conjugation from the chart.
io mangio
tu mangi
lui/lei mangia
noi mangiamo
voi mangiate
loro mangiano
The root "mangi" already ends with i, so you don't need to double it.
That really helps thanks. I always have trouble with what ending i should use.
after i say birra it acts like i never said it and the computer marks it wrong :(
- 1953
Voice recognition software is flawed, and especially over the internet there are multiple potential points of failure. I got tired of it after a while and turned off microphone lessons. Just go into your settings.
An atrociously indistinct female voice.on the Italian app compared with Italian and German. 'Birra' is mumbled and swallowed after 'Lei beve...' as are words by this person throughout. So for me, discussion on the grammar is pointless if i cannot hear it!!
typo, typed bear instead of beer.....you obviously cannot drink a bear!
