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- "Lui legge ai ragazzi."
65 Comments
Does a further distinction need to be made for masculine and feminine plural/singular? Al (m. singular) Ai (m. plural) Ala (f. singular) A le (f. plural)? If this is the case, then does "a" just mean "to" and then "ai" and "al" and (presumably) "ala" are just contractions?
You have the right idea. This link should clear things up: http://italian.about.com/library/fare/blfare153a.htm
Thank you, i have screenshotted this, it's very helpful as i was confused by the rules of what words to use! ❤️
Poppy306521
I include the direct links to the images because they can display rather small here. Following the links will take you to the full-size images that you can read more easily and download for yourself.
Ai literally is a+i which means to/at the (plural word start with vowel ), al is a+L =to/at the (singular word start with vowel )
Hi im native spanish speaker. So sorry for my english, bambino means 'kid' or 'child' and ragazzo or ragazza means a 'teenager', in spanish we say muchacho (ragazzo) y muchacha (ragazza) :)
I understand that both "boys" and "children" are accepted here, but how can I tell which is more correct? Is "ragazzi" commonly used to mean to "children" in Italy?
In Italy "ragazzi" and "bambini" are different. A "bambino" is not a "ragazzo". Indeed we use this difference to make children happy when they are growing (ohh, you're becoming a ragazzo !!!). Now, I don't know whether in English there is an overlapping between the two categories. I believed in English it was as in my native language, then I began studying German and I see that in german you have Kinder and Jungen overlapping. Having english and german the same root, all is possible. A native english speaker is needed.
I am a native English speaker. Here, we have the words baby, infant, toddler and child to refer to young people at various stages of life. But they are gender neutral. So my confusion comes from calling a group of male and female children "ragazzi." I'm very early in my Italian study, so it might make more sense to me later.
It's the same in other gendered languages - if there is even one male person in a group the male word for the group is used. (But all female will have their own word.) So 'ragazzi' is used as a gender neutral word in that you can't tell if it's used for a mixed group or just boys. I'm early in italian study too but I find it useful to see it that way. I hope an Italian speaker will correct me if I'm wrong.
It's the same in other gendered languages - if there is even one male person in a group the male word for the group is used.
Specifically, in languages that gender along masculine and feminine. The Romance (Latin-based) languages tend to do this, but I don't know what the rules are in other m-f languages.
I learned Spanish in school (many years ago....) so I'm used to using the same word for both all male and mixed groups, and then having a separate word for groups that comprise only females. But I'm also puzzling over translating these back into English: I always use "boys" when I see "ragazzi" in duolingo but am also always conscious that the sentence could mean either that he reads to the boys or that he reads to the mixed group of children (or teenagers, or whatever age group "ragazzi" most commonly refers to), so translating "ragazzi" as boys seems, well, unwarranted. But duolingo takes it, so that's what I do.
> confusion comes from calling a group of male and female children "ragazzi"
wow, indeed "children" translated as "ragazzi" is confusing even for a native italian.
The issue of the gender neutral name is different. You'll become used to it.
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1.I've seen ragazzi being used for a mixed group of people aged in their early 20s and my understanding of it before I came here from my previous Italian lessons was that it meant teenagers rather than children per se. Duo doesn't like that translation though.
- My problem is differentiating hearing between hai and ai. Any tips people?
> differentiating hearing between hai and ai
You can't hear the difference. They have the same pronouncing. The "h" is not pronounced. You must understand whether it is "hai" or "ai" from context only.
Ragazzo/a is used for people over 14 till 29 years old; bambino/a is for a child under 14 years old.
What does "I read to the boys" mean? "I write to the boys" I do understand but "I read to the boys" is very strange.
What's so strange about it? Maybe you're a teacher or a nanny, and every afternoon before class lets out, or every night before bed, you pick up a storybook and read to them.
I'm Dutch and we have a special word for "to read to" and that is the reason I didn't understand it. But it is clear now. Thanks for your comment.
In that case I apologize for the way I responded to you. I really should stop assuming that everyone's native language is English.
I read the comments hear about the ambiguity between "ragazzi" meaning either "children" or "boys", but I still would like to know what if you need to indicate definitely that it's a group of only boys (all male)? As in, "don't send the girl to the boy scouts because they are all boys". I know that's a bit of a stretch as a sample sentence but hopefully it gets the point across.
Or do Italians just flat out say (in Italian) "it was a group of children, all male" every time they want to indicate that fact?
I don't speak Italian, but judging from how other romance languages work, I'd say that yes, they'd use "tutti ragazzi" to make it clear.
So "ragazzi" means boys. What is the plural for girl/"ragazza" then? Im still confused about this
ragazzo - boy
ragazzi - boys
ragazza - girl
ragazze - girls
98% of Italian nouns follow this pattern for masculine/feminine/singular/plural:
Masculine:
singular ends in -o
plural ends in -i
Feminine:
singular ends in -a
plural ends in -e
This does not mean, though, that most nouns can have different grammatical genders. It just means that you can tell which gender a noun is by looking at the last letter. Very few words have gendered pairs like that. I'm only aware of three: ragazzo/ragazza (boy/girl), gatto/gatta (male cat, female cat), mela/melo (apple, apple tree).
What is ai . Never met it before. It would be useful to have an explanation of all determiners as i tend to think i ve got it and then it s something different :(
These are the definite articles:
https://i.imgur.com/aJ7Qlgb.jpg
This is a chart of Italian articulated prepositions, which is just a fancy term for "how the prepositions and definite articles combine into contractions":
https://i.imgur.com/1Uh64MZ.png
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Duo gives "Tips and Notes" at each chapter (website). This one was mentioned in "Basics 2". This is also the first sentence with "ai" for me.
I think "guys" implies the people are older, whereas "ragazzi" implies they are younger.
ai is a + i
agli is a + gli
http://italian.about.com/library/fare/blfare153a.htm
When to use which article: http://italian.about.com/od/grammar/a/italian-definite-article-forms.htm
lui is always "he/him". lei is "she/her".
Lei with a capital L is the polite form of the singular "you", but that doesn't come up very much on Duo.
Is raggazi girl,boy,boys,or girls i feel like they change it all the time
ragazzo is boy/child
ragazzi is boys/children
ragazza is girl
ragazze is girls
Yes, that is correct. In Italian, "ragazzo/ragazzi" can mean both "boy(s)" and "child(ren)".
Yes.
ragazzo is boy/child
ragazzi is boys/children
ragazza is girl
ragazze is girls
From what I'm seeing in the comments, am I right guessing that ragazzi refers to teenagers, and bambini refers to young children?
I heard that "ragazzi" are older children, but that's essentially the distinction.
It can mean "boys" or "children" but only "ragazze" can mean "girls".
