"I ragazzi non hanno una mamma."
Translation:The children do not have a mom.
179 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
I guess the downvotes are because of cultural differences. In my country you are considered an orphan only if both your parents are dead.
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In my country ,when one of your parents die, you are considered partly orphan and if you study till 26, you will receive extra money every month (your other parent receive the money till you are 18)
I can confirm that I also came to the comments page just to read the comments.
I like to imagine that they don't have a mom because they have multiple dads (a lot happier :D)
Really? I am not a native speaker and would think of a mummy (as in ancient Egypt) rather than a mother. Or maybe both.
I mean so long as we're listing variations, I always call my mom "Momma" and spell it like that. It seems to be even more common in the south than where I grew up in the northeast, but it's not unusual to hear anywhere in America.
In Italian it's Mamma (I'm sure you guys knew that, though) and in Spanish it's Mama. There's a lot of ways to say "mother" :)
lol! Well you'd be right if you were in America where it is said "Mom" and "Mommy". In England, however, it is said "Mum" and "Mummy". As an American myself I can't help but agree with you though! :)
In England some people call their mothers "mum", like in American there's "mom" and in Ireland there's "mam". All have forms with "-my" added at the end; "mummy", "mommy", and "mammy".
For me, seeing "mummy" depends on the context.
(English and its variations...)
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Mummy/mommy/mammy... all regional variations in UK and other parts of the English speaking world. They are mostly used by younger children.
I would expect mamma to be equivalent to mum/mom/mam (without the additional my).
I agree. Mom is not used in British English. Mum or mummy is more acceptable.
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Except that Mom (mum) and Mommy (mummy)
have two different words in Italian...
• [EN] Mother = [IT] Madre.
• [EN] Mom (Mum)⠀⠀= [IT] Mamma.
• [EN] Mommy (Mummy) = [IT] Mammina.
mummy? maybe wrong diet, ha? ;-) and what about 'mommy'? it looks common. (I've already reported it)
I know, so many people were probably reading the sentence and thinking Poor boys or Aw, this is just sad or My heart is gonna break while I translate this or something similar : /
"abbiano" if you wish they still have a mom or "avessero" if you wish they used to have a mom in the past but not anymore :-)
"The boys do not have a mummy" was not accepted. In England we can say Mum or Mummy so it should not be wrong
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What happened to "mamà" as a potential answer? Or is that just something that you call your own mother?
Hm, I think that's more of a Spanish thing; there are tons of regional variations though, so it might be used somewhere as well.
In spanish exists mamá. In catalan mamà. Note the difference on accent.
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Yeah, I know that now. It is "papà" that has me wondering; I can only assume that (la) papa may mean something else in Italian, so papà became "dad". Accents are so weird.
Looking it up online it seems the accent came from reimporting the French papa; in Latin both papa and pappa were the onomatopoeia for dad (and children's food, modern Italian pappa), but in Italian originally the form babbo was preferred (it still is in Tuscany for instance), derived from the Latin pappus (old man). "Il papa" without the accent is the pope.
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Il papa is definitely NOT un papà!
I don't think that I will ever make that mistake again-- what a great little bit of knowledge to have.
It is strange that "il" and "papa" go together (not "il papo" or, even better, "il popo") ...
You have such wit, Mabby! And thank you both for this discussion, I just asked this very question about mamma and papà on a separate sentence, and voila! here is the answer ... f. formica: once you take the time to really explain some concept / word / phrase, it would surely be awesome if duolingo could find a way to link to it when someone came across it in practice in duolingo.
That's true; if it followed the same derivation as "papà" it might have to do with trying to emulate the first syllables a toothless child speaks. Apparently it was originally papa in Old English too, and this usually trustworthy website seems to support the derivation from "father": http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=pope My source offers more options, but because of that it feels like it's grasping at straws; or to use the Italian idiom, "si arrampica sugli specchi".
That's right, "pappous" is grandfather and "papas" (παπάς) means "priest" in Greek
Is babbo considered to be a known accepted word or is it slang and only used in Tuscany?
It's not considered slang, but it's rare to hear it outside of Tuscany; Santa is a notable exception as "Babbo Natale" is much more common than "Papà Natale", but that might be due to Coca-Cola's marketing back in the day.
I thought ragazzi would be boys, not children. I thought children is bambini. Why is ragazzi translated as children and not boys here? Thank you
"Ragazzi" can be translated as either "boys" OR "children" because the male form is used for the collective noun. A group of just girls is "le ragazze". A group of just boys is "i ragazzi". A group of children that include both boys and girls is also "i ragazzi".
il ragazzo + il ragazzo = i ragazzi, la ragazza + la ragazza = le ragazze, la ragazza + il ragazzo = i ragazzi
"I bambini" is also fine for "the children". I am not a native speaker, but from my understanding "bambini" simply implies a much younger child than "ragazzi" does. "Ragazzo" can be an older guy as well. I don't think Duolingo should mark you wrong for using "bambini", nor for translating "i ragazzi" as "the boys". "Le bambine" however would only ever translate to "the little GIRLS".
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The "mom" tile should be replaced with "mother" as "mom" is a regional English word just like "mum" and should not be used.
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In my opinion it would be great if Duolingo allowed you to choose between a few common variants of English such as British, American and Australian English. They could do the same for other languages that are slightly different in different places (for example Spanish, they currently only teach the American version) and it wouldn't be too much work as they would usually only have to change a few words.
The fact that the animated characters cheer after this sentence is disturbing
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I didn't even think that... maybe they have successfully disappeared her on a temporary basis as part of magic trick. Success!
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If i ragazzi can be translated as the children, can il ragazzo be translated as the child?
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The masculine form is the default for plural, so i ragazzi can be boys or a mixed gender group of children. In the singular, il ragazzo would always refer to the male, but could be a child, a youth, or 'one of the lads' (if I have understood correctly).
Please, I'm begging you all!
Enough with these useless discussions about mummy, mommy, mam, mom, mammy, ma...
The Italian course is full of issues and I think the Team should focus on fixing those instead of adding an endless list of variations of mom/mam.
Also: this course is based on US-English. All versions of English are equally important, but this is US-English. Deal with it.
You want your flavour (or 'flavor') of English? Go to https://support.duolingo.com/hc/en-us/articles/204979660-How-can-I-suggest-a-new-language-course- and be a contributor.
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I am not American, but I still say mom. I think you will find that it varies regionally... although I might say mummy when referring to ancient Egyptian dead people.
I don't understand why mother is accepted here and not in a previous question with "mamma"
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In a previous sentence, I put 'mama' and it was marked wrong because the last 'a' in mama, hadn't got an accent - and it told me not to forget the accent! Now it's suddenly got two 'm's' and no accent. "Wos goin' on"???? (as they say in the east end of London).
"mamà" is not Italian. As far as I know it's never used if not to mock French people :-)
The pronunication of the sounds to me as if it were saying "...non han un a mamma" which of course makes no sense. Its as if the recording jitters just a bit.
There are other familiar words in English for "mother" other than "mum", e.g. mummy, ma, mam, mamma, mammy, mom, mommy.
We cannot.
ha is third person singular (ie for lui/lei -> 'he/she/it') whereas hanno is third person plural (ie for essi/esse/loro -> 'they')
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I put mummy instead of mum - and that is correct English English. You'd propably use mummy more for younger children and mum uf they were teenagers
I type mama....it's wrong. Correct answer is mamma. I type mamma...it's wrong. Correct answer is mama.
How about changing this up to say: I ragazzi non hanno un padre; or Le ragazze non hanno una mamma; or Il ragazzo non ha un padre?
I feel so sorry for these boys. Please, DL, change up this sentence so that the boys are not the ones always felling so badly about not having a mother.
I wrote, "The boys don't have a mother," and was marked wrong! How is that incorrect? Ragazzi can be translated as both "boys" and "children." What part was wrong? "Mother" for mamma? Confused much!
"una mamma" is the familiar for "Mom, momma, mommy, mum, etc."
"una madre" would be translated as "mother"
Either "boys" or "children" should be accepted.
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Ragazzi can mean boys or children. If I'd used boys would I still have been marked as correct?
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I think of bambini as being babies and smaller children, but not entirely sure ages/stages you would start to use ragazzi.
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Except that Mum (mom) and Mummy (mommy)
have two different words in Italian...
• [EN] Mother = [IT] Madre.
• [EN] Mum (Mom)⠀⠀= [IT] Mamma.
• [EN] Mummy (Mommy) = [IT] Mammina.
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Mom and Mommy have two different words in Italian:
- [EN] Mother = [IT] Madre.
- [EN] Mom⠀ ⠀= [IT] Mamma.
- [EN] Mommy = [IT] Mammina.
(So, while they refer to the same person, they express slightly different degrees of affection / informality. Mother < Mom < Mommy)
Thanks for your answer! It makes sense now! However, when i clicked on mamma to see if it also means mommy, mommy appeared as a possible translation. This is why i got confused.
In English English we do not say "mom". We say "ma", "mum" or "mummy". My answer using the last of these should have been accepted on what purports to be an international app.
i guess they would be sad if it hadn't been long ago since their parents divorced or their mom died
The kids does not have a mother - was my suggestion; that was marked down as wrong?
There are two issues:
- 'the kids' is plural so the correct verb form is 'do' ('does' only applies to 'he/she/it')
- 'mother' translates as madre whereas the sentence has mamma, 'mom/mum/mammy' (and all the variants) but not 'mother'.
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I know that the English use "mummy" and it's not about a deseaced person wrapped up in a sarcaphogus!
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Hanno (with an A, not an O) = they have.
The (present indicative) conjugation of AVERE (to have):
| English | subject pronoun | inflected verb |
|---|---|---|
| I have | io | ho |
| You have | tu | hai |
| He/she has (polite) you |
lui/lei Lei |
ha |
| We have | noi | abbiamo |
| You (plural) have | voi | avete |
| They have | loro | hanno |
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Actually, 'ragazzi' can be used not only for "boys", but for a mixed group of children as well. The choice of "bambini" or "ragazzi" would be based on the age of the children.
Bambini: ages 4-12/14.
Ragazzi: ages 12/14 and up.
Some also use the word 'ragazzini': 11-14.
There's some overlap, and context may influence the choice of word one may use to describe the same child.
I came to find out what turns raggazzi from boys to children in this sentence.
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Italian lesson are so boring. It's like in a school. You just keep writing sentences all the time. I'm learning Japanese and the lessons are much more diversified.
Why not ‘the boys’? And why is ‘mummy’ wrong as a translation of ‘mamma’? In England we say Mum or mummy, not Mom (only in america)
"The boys do not have a mummy" marked incorrect, but this is the correct translatian in British English: 'mom' is American. Duolingo is usually good at accepting both, but not in this exercise.
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"Boys" non è uno sbaglio.
Ragazzi in italiano è il plurale di ragazzo (ragazzo+ragazzo), ma anche il plurale che rappresenta un gruppo di genere misto (ragazzo+ragazza).
In inglese, Boys è il plurale di ragazzo (ragazzo+ragazzo).
Children è il plurale che rappresenta un gruppo il cui genere è sconosciuto (o misto, o irrilevante).
Quindi, senza contesto, sia "boys" sia "children" sono traduzioni valide di "ragazzi".
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heaving difficulty deciding when to use children vs boys. can someone explain? Duo did not accept boys.
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@mextex1
when to use children vs boys
Both "Boys" and "Children" should be accepted, but not "Girls".
Ragazzo = Boy
Ragazza = Girl
Ragazze = Girls
Ragazzi = Boys / Children (mixed group)
In most (if not all) languages where nouns have to take a gender,
the male-plural doubles as the mixed-group-plural.
If you're interested in which word to use for different ages:
Duo did not accept boys.
If you had no other mistake, then it could be that the course contributors have simply overlooked this possible translation here. (They need to enter each possible solution manually).
You can report it next time via the flag under the solution during the lesson:
Why do us English have to suffer American spellings?! You call it Italian to English but 'mom' isn't English. It should be 'mum'! Annoyed of Tonbridge Wells!!