"Cosa pensi di dimostrare?"
Translation:What do you think you are proving?
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Cosa pensi di . . . = What do you think about . . .
Cosa pensi di me = What do you think about me
Cosa pensi di questo = What do you think about this
Cosa pensi di fare = What are you going to do
dimostrare = to demonstrate / show / prove
Cosa pensi di demonstrare = What do you think you are proving
259
I hate to disagree....but if you are thinking about something someone or somewhere etc..you must use pensare a not pensare di...which is usually followed by an infinitive... Che Cosa ne pensi = What do you think about... Cosa pensi A me = What do you think about me Cosa ne pensi di questo = What do you think about (of) this. Cosa pensi di fare = What are you thinking of doing. But.. What are you going to do = Cosa faraì. Short explanation Pensare A = Think About Pensare Di = Think of.
1452
Thank you for your explanation. I could only come up with "what do you think of the demonstration". Marked wrong of course. I cannot see how we're meant to see how "di" now means "you're". ??
It doesn't mean "you're". You are now learning that two languages often express the same concept in different ways. Italian says pensi di [infinitive of verb] - literally "you think of [to verb]" - whereas we say "you think you are [verb]ing".
Remember pensare di [verb] as one pattern, not separate words. Pensa di dimostrare would be S/he thinks s/he is proving.
1452
Thanks. I'm aware that I am always looking for direct translations. Sometimes, like in this example, it goes against me and my word play isn't (never has been) strong enough to work it out: I had to read your reply many times to make sense of it...!
@MichaelWat Yes it is, according to https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/prove.
Perhaps you mean that they are not always interchangeable, which is true for most words.
Translating poses a permanent challenge, which is to choose the right synonym for the context. See for example all the possible contexts at https://dizionari.repubblica.it/Italiano-Inglese/D/dimostrare.html. As we are not given a context here, we have no idea which, and hope that Duo allows several sensible ones (some hope!).
Below are the definition and examples from the Hoepli dictionary. All of its choices suit our phrase, and to them I'd add "have in mind" to reflect the context avere in animo.
See http://dizionari.repubblica.it/Italiano-Inglese/P/pensare.php, context #5.
V+di+INF (= progettare/avere in animo) to plan, to think [of doing], to intend Pensava di partire per una lunga vacanza = he intended to leave for a long holiday. Cosa pensi di fare? = what are you planning to do? Pensi di comprarlo? = are you thinking of buying it? Stanno pensando di prendersi una vacanza il mese prossimo = they're thinking of taking a holiday next month.
Note that this only applies to pensare di +infinitivo, not to pensare a or pensare alone.
827
How do you get this sentence? what do you think of to demonstrate? Isn't there a better way of saying this?
3024
Very awkward English translation. Since this is 'near future', the most natural would be to use 'going to' - What are you going to demonstrate?
1775
I put "what do you think to show" - pretty poor English but I thought that was a literal translation. It was marked as incorrect and the correct answer was "what do you plan to show". Didn't know pensi could mean plan.
2323
Any thoughts on "what do you think you can prove"? Not accepted so far, but would it be a good English equivalent?
661
correct English translation would be: what are you trying to prove? The Italian question here sounds more like What are thinking of demonstrating or proving .... cosa stai cercando di provare? might be a more accurate ?