"Per favore suonate il violino."
Translation:Please play the violin.
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I suppose it could, but that is not really common unless they're all taking turns. Otherwise, when addressing many people about a singular noun, it means they each have one. It's just simpler to say. Just like, 'The kids are eating an apple.' They each have one, not all of them are jumping over each other to eat one apple.
It should be "The kids eat apples." if the exact.number for each kid is irrelevant. If the numbers are important than it should be given. "The kids eat an apple." exactly means that they jump on a single peace of apple.
I can imagine someone speaking this way but that is definitely not correct.
Yes it is. We do exactly the same in English: "I learned to play the violin" does not refer to my violin but to the violin as an instrument in general, unless context indicates otherwise. Without such context, you'd have to add (for example) my/il mio or that/quello to be specific.
I' like to know what the difference is between my answer - 'play the violin please' and their answer 'please play the violin' - why is my answer wrong???
When it's possible, I suggest you not to change the order of the words too much.
It says this word can be conjugated: io sono/suono tu soni/suoni lei sona/suona etc. Is there any difference between the two forms of spelling? Area, maybe?
The Latin infinitive was sonare. Modern reference books treat suonare as the model choice. So do I, because otherwise my "I am" and "I play" sound the same, although I expect a native speaker could stress them differently. Many derivatives use son.., e.g. sonata, sonabile.
I saw this sentence in the type of question with three choices nod you have to pick all the right options. I can't precisely remember what they were. I should have phrased my question better lol
They are referring to the 2nd person plural, "voi" hence the use of suonate
Why in other sentences is it deemed correct to translate the definite article by "your", but not here?
I recall one early on where the sentence was "Le donne hanno cinture sulle gonne," and the translation was "The women have belts on their skirts." I'm guessing this is the kind of thing the asker is referring to.
why is not plays the violin how it possible too many people playing on the same time a single violin
Isn't suonate 2nd person plural for the verb suonare, that is "you all play". I used You all please play the violin but it came back wrong. However, I do understand you all can't play one violin.
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Per favore/please requires the imperative, which should drop the subject pronoun in English. Playing a single violin by multiple people is explained above
This must be a request to a group of violinists! The example reflects the Direct Imperative tense which relies upon either the singular tu or plural voi forms of the Present Indicative. This sentence relies upon the plural voi form.The use of per favore indicates a request rather than an order in the Imperative.
Why is the verb form here imperative? I don't think we have been taught that yet.
«Please play the violin» is in imperative form. I'll compare with Spanish to explain the difference.
«Per favour suonate il violin» translates to «Por favor toca el violín.», which is differnt from «Por favor tocas el violín» which is what we are tight up to now. Are the imperative forms the same as the regular conjugations?
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The imperative of tu, noi (let's xxxx) and voi for regular -ere, and -ire verbs is the same as the present tense in the affirmative. For -are verbs, the i ending is dropped and "a" is added. (unless the "i" is retained for sound purposes such as, "(tu) mangia)! For negative commands with all 3 stems, the infinitive is used, after non. such as, "non andare!" It's pretty straightforward until you start adding pronouns like, "Give IT to ME". = Dammelo--or the odd looking "Give it to her/him/them = Daglielo--but we haven't studied double pronouns yet so don't worry. For the formal you, Lei and Loro commands the rules are different. (we don't use these much in Duo.). . There are lots of irregular commands though. Here is a pretty good youtube video.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0lt5sGEDB8&t=454s
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Is there a reason "Could you please play the violin?" is wrong? It seems to mean the same thing to me, but feels more polite.
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While you are correct, the sentences have a very similiar meaning and yours is more polite; in Italian, your sentence would be phrased differently.
Puoi suonare il violino per favore? - Can you please play the violin?
Potresti suonare il violino per favore? - Could you please play the violin?
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I appreciate your interest in increasing the level of courtesy, but the job of imparting levels of courtesy is up to the writer/speaker. When translating we are pretty much left with what the speaker actually said, and there is no conditional: potreste suonare or suoneresti = could you play or would you play. Interesting though, imagine you were the translator for American violinists in Italy who had been asked to play--you might be inclined then to increase the level of politeness in the request to show even more respect towards the players. I admire your inclination towards politeness in speech.
Am I the only one who cannot hear the l in "il violino"? Enunciation is a valued speech feature.
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può essere confuso con il presente. Sarebbe inequivocabile se ci fosse il punto esclamativo