- Forum >
- Topic: Italian >
- "Gli animali bevono acqua."
46 Comments
Gli is if the first letter of the following word begins with a vowel, z or s and a consonant. i is used if the first letter of the word is a consonant. This site explains it clearly: http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/italian/language_notes/il.html
I was failed for putting "l'acqua" instead of simply "acqua" without the article - although I was under the impression that in Italian the article should always be used. Is anyone else having this issue?
I don't understand. Do you always put the definite article in front of the town in a sentence like this or can you omit it?
The difference is in what you want to say; "l'acqua" would be the water, a specific one, while just 'acqua' is any water
How to pronounce "gli"? Like "li"? Why? How not to mix it with a word "li" (if it exists)?
'Gli' should be pronounced as "l'yee". Difficult to get this sound right when it's standalone or begins a word as the 'l' part and the 'yee' part really belong to two separate syllables but consequently easier when in the middle, eg 'luglio' (= lul'yeeo), or at the end, eg 'degli' (= del'yee) of a word.
Because there's the word "the" at the beginning, I think... Though, that might be correct as well, I'm not sure...
You're right, with the article 'gli' at the front, it translates to 'the animals'.
Lei ha i piatti. / Gli animali bevono acqua.
Why is: I PIATTI but no L'ACQUA? Something it is cominkg article, somethinkg not? why
Ok, sometimes it is optional to put an indefinite article, but, there are other times when it is not optional. I know because when I forget to put in the article, Duolingo marks it wrong. --- Are there some rules that show when including the article is mandatory and when it is optional or wrong to do so? For instance, I got the following wrong for not putting an article: Lui ha l’acqua. (In Basic 2- Lesson 4 of 5) Yet Duolingo included several examples in Food Lesson 1 - Io bevo latte. Food Lesson 3 - Non mangio manzo, Food Lesson 6: Io cucino pesce, & Plurals Lessons 1-3 and elsewhere, where, Duolingo itself does not use the articles, for example: Le gate mangiano pane, etc. Thanks!
Wouldn't "The animals are drinking water" also be true or am i tripping?
oh for heaven's sake. It said "speak this sentence," so I did. And got it wrong. It didn't say "translate this sentence." Big difference in the two verbs.
You wouldn't use "i animali", because you use "gli" in front of words that begin with vowels.
236
is the g pronounced in "gli"? it sounds like "li" or something weird with her robot-voice...
Ah, I've now learned that it's pronounced like the "lli" in "million", so... :D pretty difficult for English speakers. It's kind of a "lyee". But one thing is certain, you don't pronounce the "g".
I'd like to know that as well. I'm pretty sure the g is pronounced when it's at the beginning of words.
But not with that "gl" combination - that makes is that "lli" sound like in "million".
Yes, I think I posted that comment about 2 years ago, but thanks anyway.
Duolingo should really show us the dates on old comments.
i looked that one too. Singular: il (un) animale. Plural: gli animali. I thought that "e" at the end was the mark for the prural of feminim word, but no. Cause pane (bread) is pani (breads), like animale, animali.
"animale" and "pane" are masculine. Words ending in "a" are feminine, words ending in "o" are masculine, and words ending in "e" are usually masculine, but many are feminine, such as ones ending in "-zione" (which is the Italian equivalent of the English "-tion" and many words directly translate just by changing this ending) so it's "il pane" but "la colazione".
Of course there are a few exceptions to these rules, such as the word "poeta" (poet), which is masculine even though it ends in "a", and "mano" (hand) which is feminine even though it ends in "o".
