"I libri sono dai ragazzi."

Translation: The books are from the boys.

[Duomail]

The meaning of this sentence "The books are from the boys",,, is like "The books come from the boys" ? (as they had brought them)

[GuerraAmanda]

I think that would be it

[RosaVella]

the recording really sounded like "dei" ragazzi and not "dai". i listened to it at least 4 times!

[mlight]

I thought bambini was only babies? In the basic lesson, we were told that ragazzi could mean children ~ is that wrong?

[homefreys]

Does 'dai' mean 'with' as well as 'from'? Because it says I was wrong not to also click "the books are with the boys" as a translation...

[Balgair]

don;t you need a to say 'i ragazzi' for 'the boys', not just 'ragazzi'?

[giuliap]

Yes, you are correct. However, "da+i = dai", so "da i ragazzi" becomes "dai ragazzi".

[Elena18]

How would you say "the books are the children's"?

[marziotta]

"I libri sono dei bambini"

[igfs]

How would you say 'They're the boys books''?

[UmutEldem]

"Sono i libri dei ragazzi."

[Rota.be]

I don't get the difference between dagli and dai.

[UmutEldem]

Those words are Da combined with articles.

Da + gli = Dagli, so when you say from the men (gli uomini), you say "Dagli uomini".
Da + i = Dai, so when you say from the dogs (i cani), you say "Dai cani".

[ajafari1357]

"The books are from the boys." it doesn't make any sense!

[GuerraAmanda]

The boys who gave them!

[ajafari1357]

I know that, I mean "from the boys" sounds weird, "boys' book" should be better.

[GuerraAmanda]

Oh, I see xD

[aadambialas]

But i think it's like I brought the books for you and i tell you that the boys are giving you the books, like "I got the books from the boys for my birthday" or sth like that. It's not necessarily their book, they're just giving them to you.

[Ryuzacki]

Can't you say "the books belong to the boys"?

[anapanone]

In the past 'dai ragazzi' was meaning ' the boys' house.'
How do you know the difference between the books coming ' from the boys' or ' from their home?'

Is it all just context?

[jesslc]

Yes. (It's the context that tells you that)

[HelmutKrhl]

So, how would you express "The books are at the boy's (home)" ?

[pia71]

-dtliuluool..ll

[samig59]

In a previous sentence I translated dai as from the and it was marked as error. Thus, I thought I shouldn't put from the boys but from boys now. But this was also marked as error. Can anybody explain whether dai is from the or only from or both and how we can distinguish the cases?