"The boy eats some sandwiches."
Translation:Il ragazzo mangia dei panini.
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I'm confused why it would be "dei" here instead of "delle" or "della." Is it because it's plural (panini) instead of singular (panino)?
"dei" is the preposition 'di' plus the article 'i' combined to make "dei" because the singular is "il panino" and this is the plural "i panini"
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I think D L is wrong. ....qualche panino or alcuni panini should be accepted.. Di plus the article to form 'some' is only used when the quantity is not finite or measurable/ countable. Eg I want some salt..Voglio del sale. Sandwiches are countable!
Partitive articles can be used with countable nouns as well.
For example, "La nonna ci ha regalato dei vestiti nuovi a Natale" ('Grandma has given us some new clothes for Christmas").
edit:
here's a detailed explanation of partitive articles by the legendary user CivisRomanus: https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/17998963?comment_id=18008480
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Partitive articles can be used with countable nouns as well.
Do you mean in English or in Italian?
When I learned English 40 years ago, I've been taught they should be used ONLY with non-countables nouns, i.e. "some sandwiches" is wrong, and should be "a few sandwiches". Was it "old-style pure English"?
I was talking about Italian, but the same goes for the English determiner "some".
Throughout my school years (which were much more recent than yours) I was always taught that "some" is used with uncountable nouns and plural countable nouns. The Cambridge dictionary confirms that in an article about the use of "some": https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/some
Sandwiches is plural right??? Im so confused. I think it should be panini not panino
Okay so do the forms of "di" translate to possession (English version of 's) AND the measurement "some"
Yes. "di"(+article, optionally) is used for both the genitive and the partitive. Context should make it clear which it is.
It's exactly the difference between "gli" and "i".
Keep in mind that the noun itself determines masculine vs feminine, singular vs plural. The specific form the article takes from there is determined by the word that comes immediately after the article.
gli elefanti
i nostri elefanti
https://dante-learning.com/eng/preposizioni-italian-prepositions-complete-guide/
I love your links, Rae.F
We need a post just to share links.
I'll take "Reference tabs you should have open while on Duo for $1000, Alex"
why this time is it 'il' ragazzo and not 'al' ragazzo? geez so confusing at times...
According to my notes:
dei = di + i = of (or from), - but dei can also men some / a little dai = da + i = from (or by)
E.g. Il libro dei ragazzi = The book of the boys = The boys book Il libro dai ragazzi = The book from the boys
Why do you use panino? In my opinion, when you use "qualche" it is obvious that you're talking about plurals, so the following object is a singular and not plural.
I got this wrong, put "degli panini" instead of"dei panini". I looked it up and when the following word starts with a vowel sound you need to use degli. Here the 'p' in panini simply gets dei. In more detail - this from the web: the rule is "Gli" goes with: "z, pn, gn, ps, x, y, s+cons and vowels"
But only if the noun is masculine plural. There is a chart elsewhere on this page that covers all of the details.
I dont get it. Doesnt this mean: "The boy eats of the sandwiches?" How is it "some"???
In the Romance languages, the individual words "of" and "the" are put together and used the way we mean "some" in English. It's called the partitive.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partitive
https://www.thoughtco.com/partitive-in-grammar-1691587
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OK about romance languages (I'm a native French).
But in English, I'm pretty sure that "some sandwiches" is a barbarism, because sandwiches can be counted. I've learned to say "a few sandwiches", or "bits of sandwiches". Or "some food", because you don't count food.
I have reported this item, but unfortunately on the report we can't tell what the problem is, it's only "something else went wrong".
