"Vai dal meccanico?"
Translation:Do you go to the mechanic?
69 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
I read that this is a common construction, used with "andare," when you're talking about going to the home or shop of a particular person (as opposed to a supermarket) e.g. to the butcher. Despite the fact that "da" usually means "from". jackie.bowers
Da in some cases can mean to. Andare da is an expression to say go to , while venere da means come from
here's what I think - for what it's worth! it's 'andare a ....' unless you are saying WHO you are going to, eg John's house, the fishmonger's shop. then it's 'andare da...' the apostrophe helps me to remember.(I shall be so happy if a native Italian speaker says I'm right!)
I'm not a native speaker, merely a student. But I do remember a teacher saying something like this, and I always used it this way, so I think you are right. Plus, I think 'andare da' it's always used when you specify a person, a professional ecc. But there are variations like dal, dalla, dalle...
Isn't it just simpler to say "vai al meccanico"? coz "a+il" (al) means "to the" anyway... Phew!
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I think 'andare da' may be used here in the sense of "to go to the mechanic's" (the place of/from the mechanic...) - not at all sure whether this is correct, but that's how I make sense of it for myself...;-)
Yes, it is correct. I entered "Do you go to the mechanic's?" and Duo accpeted it as correct.
Always use "andare da" for the direction to a person, - but it is possible to say e.g. "andare al villaggio" meaning "go to the village".
Andare da is an expression, you should use it instead of andare a in this case
This sentence is a show stopper for me, Italian seemed cool but then this showed up. How it is possible to have a preposition meaning "from" and sometimes "to"? How can I distinguish them?
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Prepositions don't follow clear rules (I have the same problems with English prepositions)
http://www.italianlanguageguide.com/grammar/prepositions/
The verb "andare" can use several prepositions (a, da, con, su,...)
In this case you can use both "a" or "da", but with a different structure
• io vado dal meccanico davanti al parco (person)
• io vado all'officina davanti al parco (place)
• io vado da John (person)
• io vado a casa di John (place)
• io vado dal dottore (person)
• io vado all'ospedale (place)
There are 2 accepted answers here that are quite different in English, so it is not clear that both answers should be correct:
-Do you go to the mechanic? Means, do you normally, as a habit, go to the mechanic. Does NOT mean you are going now, or today.
-Are you going to the mechanic? means "are you going actually, to the mechanic. (not a habit...more specific)
Which english meaning is referred to by this Italian sentence. It seems this distinction is not easy to make in Italian?
If I wanted to say "He's going from his friend's to his parents' house."?
"Va dal suo amico alla casa dei suoi genitori."? Or would I have to be specific and say: "Va dalla casa del suo amico..."?
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he is going from his friend's to his parents' house
Lui sta andando dalla casa del suo amico alla casa dei suoi genitori -
he goes from his friend's to his parents' house
Lui va dalla casa del suo amico alla casa dei suoi genitori (this translation can also be used for the previous sentence)
No native English speaker would say "Do you go to the mechanic?" unless they meant "is going to the mechanic something that you do typically?". So it is silly that it rejects "You go to the mechanic?" and "Are you going to the mechanic?" and gives this as the correct answer. So I think the some of the trouble here may be the nuances of English, not Italian.
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"Do you go to the mechanic" is a perfectly correct English form, but the meaning is not the same as "Are you going to the mechanic. I at first assumed that the Italian meant the latter form
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"Stai andando dal meccanico?" = "Are you going to the mechanic?"
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"Vai dal meccanico?" = "Do you go to the mechanic?" and also "Are you going to the mechanic?"
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I answered 'are you going' and it was wrong. If somebody's car breaks down, you say to them 'Are you going to the mechanic?', to which they can answer 'yes' or 'no' I thought this was the sense. If you met somebody heading towards the garage, you could ask the same, although the sense is a bit different. 'Do you go to the mechanic?' would mean 'do you go when the car breaks down rather than repairing it yourself or doing something else', to which you could reply 'yes' or 'no'. I had understood the Italian sentence to have the other meaning, not this one. French therefore differs from both Italian and English.
I tried translation software with this
"I go from the mechanic's to the store". It returns Vado dal meccanico al negozio
"i go to the mechanic's" Vado al meccanico
What do you think?
I think the translation software is bugged ;) You can use "andare a" with places (vado all'officina), but not with people, because you need "da" to change a person into a place (vado dal meccanico). temporalthings above is right, "da" in this context is the same as the French "chez" or the German "bei".
Right. This usage is well known to us from the names of Italian restaurants, such as "Da Luigi".
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Shouldn't the pitch of the voice go up at the end of interrogative sentences? Because the voice actually says : "you go to the mechanic". I have lost a lot of hearts because of this.
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- "vai...?" = "do you go...?" and "are you going...?"
- "sei andato...?" = "did you go...?" and "have you gone ...?"
Yes, a good way to understand it in the sense is to thing of it in English as "chez": go chez John, chez the mechanic, etc. This sounds a bit strange, perhaps, but helps you understand the grammatical usage and sense of dal in Italian, which in this construction is similar.
I don't know anyone that uses chez but that explanation helps for anyone who knows french
Grazie mille per spiegarlo! It's similar to aller chez quelqu'un in French.
why not "are you going to a mechanic?" ? if you leave out the article why is "the" assumed instead of "a"
The article is not left out: "dal" is the contraction of "da" and "il" (http://italian.about.com/library/fare/blfare153a.htm). "Are you going to a mechanic?" would have been "Vai da un meccanico?".
Why "dal" and not "del"? Wouldn't "dal" be asking "Do you go from the mechanic?" rather than "Do you go to the mechanic?"?
Ok so a minute ago I got "Do you go to the party tonight" wrong for using "Vai da[lla]", but here it's correct?
But you were asked to translate a question and your response is not correct question in english.
Duo Lingo compilers need to know we use present continuous in English..,'Are you going to the mechanic - right now?' is the intended meaning. in English 'do you go to the dentist/chiropractor?' would be a genuine enquiry about a recurring event.
I write this sentence as. Vai dal meccanico, I got the answer that it should be Va..... and now it's Vai again. It cost me a heart....
In this sentence, da means "to" - but that translation was not offered.
Does anybody know why the translation is "to" in this sentence and not "from"? Is there any rule for it?
I think "da" sometimes works like "chez" in French. You know, like when you say "chez moi", as in "at my place". So: vai dal meccanico ... is a bit like saying, "Are you going to the mechanic's?"
So would I, and I'm wondering how to distinguish 'you go from..' Perhaps 'Tu vieni dal meccanico'
Andare da means go to and venire da means come from. So da doesn't change alone, but the verb that comes with it changes its meaning.
To Me, "Do You Go To The Mechanic?" Is Asking If You Do It Habitually, While "Are You Going To The Mechanic" Is Asking If You're Currently In The Process Of Going To The Mechanic, Is There No Difference Between Those Two In Italian?
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This for some reason cannot be posted: The doctor in italian is la medica/il medico. Il dottore/la dottoressa is anyone with university diploma
Prepositions are hard, - why do we in English arrive in large places like London but at smaller places like the station?
In Italian
- da is used for going to a person, dal pescatore = to the fisherman
- a is used for places and object, al mercato = to the market
Ok, if andare DAL meccanico means to go TO the mechanic. How do you say Cominng FROM the mechanic?
The given translation is pure pidgin English. My "Are you going to the mechanic's was rejected although correct. Shame on Duolingo!
It's so hypocrite to reject my "vai" in an earlier sentence (wanting "va" instead) while now using "vai" yourself in the same setting, Signori Duolinghi!
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Twice my answer was marked WRONG and it is exactly the correct answer displayed by DL.How do I get out of this loop?
If you copy and paste your answer perhaps somebody can help spot what's wrong
this is the second day without a correct answer. My accent is pretty good. fix this!