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- Topic: Italian >
- "Vanno allo zoo dopo pranzo."
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Shouldn't it be 'dallo zoo' here instead of 'allo zoo'. It states 'they are going towards something' after all. The correct usage of 'to the' is quite confusing in Duolingo. Any help on this... Please?
- 743
"dallo zoo" means "from the zoo". You can only use "da" meaning towards something in expressions like "vado dal dottore", "vado da Giulia", "vado dallo psicologo".
Obviously 'after lunch' is better, but is there any grammatical reason the translation couldn't be 'they go to the zoo after I eat lunch'?
For that you would need something like «Vanno allo zoo dopo che mangio il pranzo.» or «Vanno allo zoo dopo aver pranzato.» ("They go to the zoo after having eaten lunch."). If you want to express that "I" is doing the eating of the lunch, you at least need a «che» between «dopo» and «pranzo».
Because, in this sentence, pranzo is a noun, not a verb. The sentence is not specifying anyone doing the action of eating lunch. If you want "They go to the zoo after they eat lunch," then you would need «Vanno allo zoo dopo che pranzano.» See my first comment on this thread.
- 743
"at the zoo" means to be already there.
"to the zoo" implies movement towards something, which you have to use with a verb of movement such as "to go".
(Unlike in French, which might be your language :-))
I said it exactly as the audio still marked me wrong dont understand why
Come on people "Zoo" even in casual Italian has to be pronounced so humans can discern it from "do".
I keep making the same mistake: writing "a lo" and "a la" instead of "allo" and "alla". Is this ever acceptable or always wrong?
It should be they'll go to the zoo after lunch or they will go to the zoo after lunch, not they go to the zoo after lunch.
It should be they'll go to the zoo after lunch or they will go to the zoo after lunch .
No, it should not be. Grammatically speaking, «vanno» is conjugated in the present tense, so "They go to the zoo after lunch." In English, this sentence implies that they always go the zoo after lunch, which the Italian sentence «Vanno allo zoo dopo pranzo.» can also mean. However, you are right that the present tense (especially with the verb «andare») is used sometimes to mean the very near future.
