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Suggestion, it would be good to have in the pop up menu of the words, the variations in italian, like for example nel, nello, etc so that people can take note of the different variations. because i've seen nel and nello, but what happens when its plural feminine is it nella? I'm just starting here and the only trouble i'm having is having to find all those different cases by chance, would be nice to be able to get all variation and be able to write them down. just a suggestion. Thank you!
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I highly recommend making certain you are grounded in the forms and rules for the definite articles. Much of what you need to know for other parts of the Italian language will flow from that. You can get a handy chart of the basic forms for the most common prepositions here http://italian.about.com/library/fare/blfare153a.htm
and you should be able to find a discussion entry on this site under the most popular that lists a number of resources other members have been kind enough to post for everyone.
Your question is a common one, it comes up again and again. I think it would be great if DL would provide some explanations for things like this--there are some things that would help everyone learn better rather than simple exposure and hoping everyone can figure it out on their own.
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This is a great link, it helped me a lot :)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/italian/tutors/grammar/language_notes/al.shtml
If you want to know when to use "il, gli, la, i" etc. Go to this link: https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/815852/Il-lo-l-la-i-gli-le
I hope it was helpful :)
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here is another with a more comprehensive grammar.http://www.uvm.edu/~cmazzoni/3grammatica/grammatica/
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so is it she writes on the (physical) newspaper or for the newspaper itself? or both?
It can be either one. It just depends on the situation the sentence is used in.
It was more difficult to put it in english than to understand it in italian
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There's great book called Living Italian by Maria Vaglimigli, which explains all the grammer really well. You can buy it from Amazon
Why do we say "Lei scrivE" but also "Lei mangiA"? Why in first case it is ended with E but in second case it is ended with A?
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There are 3 different conjugations in Italian: you need to check the infinite form to see them.
1) -are. Ex. parlare
io parlo
tu parli
lui/lei parla
noi parliamo
voi parlate
essi parlano
2) scrivere
io scrivo
tu scrivi
lui/lei scrive
noi scriviamo
voi scrivete
essi scrivono
3) sentire
io sento
tu senti
lui/lei sente
noi sentiamo
voi sentite
essi sentono
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"Lo" is used before nouns starting with s + consonant or z (which zucchero does); "il" is used for all other nouns (except vowels, in which case it would have to be "l'").They both mean the masculine "the".
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If a word starts with a vowel, the article here should also be lo, is that correct?
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Hi Lycidasss,
No, I think it has to be contracted to l' (as in "l'uomo"). All other nouns not starting with (s + consonant) or z (in which case it will have to be "lo") will be "il".
A lot of language rules are actually very convenient if you think about it. For example, the "l" and "s/z" sounds do not exactly roll off the tongue. So, there is another article! Also, using an article that starts with a vowel but ends with a consonant is okay for words starting with vowels, but that short "i" sound could be taken away, and so it is. If some rule/exception in Italian, or any of the other Romantic languages for that matter ( I don't have that much knowledge of other groups of languages like Slavic, so), is confusing or seemingly pointless, take a look at the possible benefits or conveniences from that rule/exception as opposed to the normal way or the way from your language (if your language is Romantic or English, at least). Apologies for any weird wording in this comment.
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Is "nel" a contraction ? Or is it the original form of "in the" ?
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It's the contraction of "in" and "il". But contractions are mandatory in Italian.
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Don't give up, just keep on learning. As a matter of fact, Itaien is a much easier language to learn, comparing with german.
Use nello when the article would be lo. For example: lo zucchero. Nello zucchero. Nel is for when the article is Il
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The 'nel' sounded like 'una' though I knew that giornale is masculine, and I didn't know that it was nel, so i wrote una, but I knew it was wrong, so I was just giving up a life. They totally need better pronunciation.
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I think "on" should be the correct answer, right? after all people can't get IN the newspaper and write.
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If you're asking for the correct ENGLISH, either "in" or "on" could be correct. Newspapers usually open up, like books, so one could write "in" a newspaper. But I guess you are correct in the we would usually say "don't write ON my newspaper". I am wondering, though, whether in ITALIAN this really means "She writes FOR a newspaper"- ie, that is her JOB- she is a columnist....?
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The two words are interchangeable in Italian. But "writes in the newspaper" is sometimes used to mean writing FOR the newspaper, I think. Either way, on SHOULD be correct too.
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She writes for the newspaper, it made more sense for my translation, she writes in the journal (diary).
Journals can also be newspapers. In the French lessons, journal is an accepted translation for the word for newspaper. I wonder why it is not so in the Italian lessons...
My answer should be accepted: "giornale" can mean "journal" as well as "newspaper/paper."
No, it really can't: journal and newspaper are different things with different translations, and they only overlap in rare cases, if ever.
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What if the newspaper comes out only once a week? Is it still a "giornale"?
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no. if you are referring to the slow recitation, she always overemphasizes the 'l' in 'nel', 'al' and other first person, singular preposition/article contranctions. don't focus on the articles and pronouns so much. the noun and pronoun/article (un/una, il/la) must agree. if the noun is masculine she isn't saying 'nella'.
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I played it over and over and I clearly hear nel.
Is that the normal version or the slow over?
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because she emphasizes the 'L' it often does sound like 'nella'. don't concentrate on the articles, but recognize the gender of the noun. if it is masculine it must be a masculine article (or preposition + article)
try emphasizing a word with a final 'L' and you will find that you have a hard time letting it finish without adding a vowel to the end.
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I have a post on this below. it is especially true of slow, precise recitations.
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"She writes in the journal" isn't accepted.
Giornale sounds like the literal translatio for journal, but im not an italian speaker so i don't know!
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I wrote the same translation, but the program said that it was wrong. It said that right would be paper, but not newspaper
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Asking that something be translated into English but marking it wrong because it follows the way it would normally be acceptable in English rather than whatever the rule is in Italian seems, for example, I translated the Italian for "She writes for the newspaper," as "She writes for a newspaper," something you wouldn't say unless you knew the specific paper she writes for, and it was counted as incorrect for using the indefinite article. I understand why but if I'm speaking or translating into English, wouldn't it make sense to express things astray would be in English.
"She writes in the newspaper" does not necessarily mean that "she write for the newspaper". It could just literally mean that some lady is writing in a newspaper. For example, the newspaper could have a crossword or something in there, so to solve the puzzle, someone would have to write in the newspaper.
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don't read in a backstory to these sentences. just translate it. you don't know if she knew that clark was from krypton either, ot that jimmy olsen sleeps with a teddy bear. English speakers (US) would more likely say that 'she writes for the newspaper' since most cities, towns and villages only have one newpaper. and even if they had more there would be no reason someone couldn't say 'the newpaper'.
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Shouldn't it be "Lei scrive fo il giornale" (She writes for the newspaper) Instead of she writes in the newspaper?
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Can someone explain why it is "She writes in THE newspaper" and not without "the"? Does nel mean "in" and "in the"? If so how do I know if it's "in" or "in the"? Thanks in advance :)
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here is a page that can be very useful. http://www.uvm.edu/~cmazzoni/3grammatica/grammatica/
'Nel' sounds a whole lot like 'nella' in this sentnce when read by the robot. A more clear pronunciation would be awesome
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if you know the gender of the noun it won't matter what the 'robot' sounds like.
because of the way that a hard 'l' sound is made with the end of the tongue tight to the palate behind the teeth, if you try to make it very clearly it is hard not to add a following vowel sound. if you pronounce it more casually the following sound isn't as obvious.
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io scrivo, tu scrivi, lui/lei scrive, noi scriviamo, voi scrivete, loro scrivono. Pay attention to the last letter(s) of a verb. It tells you who/what is the subject.
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I'm afraid not. 'paper' is carta, 'newspaper' is giornale. If you mean 'paper' as in 'the officer asked for his papers', then it's documento.
