"Lei ha chiesto cibo."
Translation:She asked for food.
20 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
Where is the "for" in the Italian? My answer was correct: "She asked for food", but the English translation above has the word "for" in it. I guess my problem is if I was to try and construct this in Italian I would say: "Lei ha chiesto per cibo". Would that be incorrect?
mkajitaly: Think of it as "requested food" . In fact the roots of both words are similar. The italian verb takes a direct object without the need for a preposition, like e.g. aspettare.
1744
I just consulted context.reverso.net, and apparently Italian has the verb ordinare that is used for this purpose.
Can anybody explain why is no article required here?
In a previous sentence the variants were "Lei ha prodotto l'alcol" or "Ha prodotto alcol". That seemed to indicate that the article was somehow necessary before the noun if a personal pronoun was used, and that an article was not necessary if the personal pronoun was omitted.
In this sentence, we have a personal pronoun, but no article. Any explanations?
- 1436
I think this is right. The past participle (chiesto in this sentence) only agrees with the subject in number and gender if it is a verb that uses the auxilliary 'essere', as in the sentence "Lei รจ andata". Intransitive verbs (verbs that do not take a direct object) and reflexive verbs use 'essere'. Because the verb in the given sentence uses the auxilliary 'avere', its past participle does not agree with the subject. Past participles of verbs that use 'avere' DO agree in number and gender with a direct object that comes before the verb, but not with the subject. I believe that is correct. :)
BeaverGuy: Because it's too strong. Chiedere is better translated as to 'ask for' or to 'request' something. I don't know why you'd suggest "to demand" when there are more likely and more common alternatives readily available.
I did not suggest to translate "chiedere" as "to demand". I was genuinely asking if "chiedere" could also be translated with "to demand". And I take it from your answer that it should not be translated as such.
Out of curiosity I'd now like to know how you would actually translate "She has demanded food" into Italian.
Beaver: My apologies - it sure looked like a suggestion to me. But to your question, I'd suggest the verb 'esigere', so for Duo's example: Lei esige cibo (present) or Lei ha esatto cibo (past)..
Wouldn't "the food" be il cibo? I put she asked for food and was marked correct, but i always double check the translation...
Why "the food"? Wouldn't that be "Il cibo"? The sentance "She asked for food" (any food) can have a different meaning than does "She asked for the food" (specific food). Or maybe there's not an equivalent difference in Italian?
