"La stazione si trova nel mezzo della città."
Translation:The station is in the middle of the city.
50 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
I also has a problem with the generic, "you can find the station in the middle of the city"
It's in the passive voice, - frequently used in italian but taught to be avoided in English .
La stazione = the station
si trova = one finds / finds itself ~ is found/situated
nel mezzo = in the center
del città = of the city
The station one finds in the center of the city. ~
The station is found in the middle of the city. ~
The station is in the middle of the city.
You may want to read up on the Italian passive voice at ThoughCo
681
I wrote the station is found in the middle of the city, i knew it sounds bad, but it was accepted
- 3129
I wrote, "The station is to be found in the middle of the city". Marked wrong, but I have reported it.
Would love to hear from a native Italian if it could be translated that way because that's how I translated it as well.
what is the difference between something being found and something being located? I wrote One finds the station in the middle of the city, is it something to do with active and passive?
A more literal translation is the passive "The station one finds in the middle of the city". . . or possibly "The station finds itself in the middle of the city."
i agree…. that should be accepted as correct. I hope you"ve reported it… I wrote… The station is situated in the middle of the city…. that too was not accepted.
- 1348
The given answer doesn't seem as accurate ad a number of variations given below using found. My version was " can be found".
I reported "the station can be found in the middle of the city" as "should be accepted". February 2020.
- 1376
I love learning the various uses of "trovare". English, of course, has what non-native learners must think as weird ways of expressing ideas too. For example: the dry grass "caught" fire. I am intermediate, so I just recently learned about "andare trovare" as a common way of saying what we say as "visit". Anyway, I love learning Italian!!
I have a word bank and no hearts... Did Duolingo change, or is this a higher level that I haven't gotten to yet? Just curious.
Citta' does not have the correct pronunciation in the audio (the stress is on the beginning of the word, it should be on the end).
I don't understand why "the station is found in the middle..." is not correct. Si trove = one finds?
Technically I believe the station finds itself in the middle of the city.
- 1410
Really hope someone can clear this one up! I cannot see why "... si trova..." and not just "e"? I asked google and got "la stazione è nel centro della città". The Italian that DL offer us, google translates as "the station is located in the middle of the city". I've not tried this yet do will let you know if it is accepted or not...
Why is it 'mezzo' and not 'mezza' given all the nouns in this sentence are feminine?
'Mezzo' means middle (actually "half"), and it's not acting as an adjective, modifying any of the words on the page, so it doesn't change form.
But if a woman is, for example, 'half Italian', then she is 'una mezza italiana'...
there, "mezza" modifies "italiana", so the 'o' changes to an 'a'. In the duolingo sentence, "mezzo" is a noun, not modifying anything. Like saying "I'll take the middle" (noun) vs. "I'll take the middle piece" (adjective).
Duo lingo is not very good at doing fluid translation. It only really likes very literal accounts.
True. And understandable: every acceptable translation has to be added by hand to some list, I guess. The freer the translations accepted, the longer and more time-consuming the list.
It will accept, the station is in the centre of the city, but not in the city centre!!!!
I think here "si" = one, and "si trova" = one finds.
It's in the passive voice, - frequently used in italian but mostly avoided in English. I have commented it in more detail higher up.
- 621
fyi the English translation is really" The station is found in the middle of the city si trova, was not included in the translation
I put the station is in the city centre -marked wrong but much better English!
- 3129
A city centre could be understood to be the active hub of a city, whilst the centre of a city be the exact midpoint. It's almost ambiguous, but there is enough context to define the difference. On top of that there is the difference in spelling between UK/USA English.
I too detest this translation. DL is very literal most of the time but now it completely misses out 'si trova' by translating it as 'is'. Words fail me!
- 102
Well il mezzo means the middle while the centre is il centro. I agree that the city centre and the middle of the city are to all intents and purposes one and the same, but there is a slight difference - hence the choice of word in the Italian.
"Si trova" should be translated as "is situated" rather then just "is", equivalent to "è" alone. DL did not accept: is situated.
