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- "Mia zia sa parlare sia cines…
"Mia zia sa parlare sia cinese che inglese."
Translation:My aunt can speak both Chinese and English.
33 Comments
I'm a little bit confused now. In the last question I was using "sia rossa sia nera", and now is "sia ... che ...". Why this difference?
It's the same.In Italian,both forms are admitted.I'm a native,and I can say the little more used form is 'sia ... che ...',but it means exactly the same as the other form you reported. hope this helps
Interesting that Google gives "sia ... sia" but also translates "sia ... che" correctly. So I tried experimenting. It seems a string of "sia ... sia ... sia ... sia" is possible, or perhaps ending with a "che" e.g. "Parla sia ... sia ... sia ... che" = "She speaks ... and ... and ... as well as ..." Unfortunately google still starts with the word "both" even though there are more than two. Can an Italian please confirm that such a string is possible?
my aunt 'speaks' both chinese and english is more correct than 'can speak' , but it was marked wrong
Well 'sa' translates as 'knows' - so the best translation I think is "my aunt knows how to speak both Chinese and English"
You can't just ignore the word "sa" though when you are translating the Italian sentence.
Hmmm ... nothing wrong with CAN speak - maybe she can, but she seldom chooses to.
It is certainly not "more" correct. It is also correct, but a less accurate translation.
278
Entrambi is used when you are talking about more subjects but that can be called with a word. For ex: both my parents. Sia is used when you are talking about more different things. For ex: both my aunt and my uncle
I wrote "My aunt knows both Chinese and English" which I would argue is a more accurate translation, although it does omit "to speak". Would "knows how to speak" have been marked as correct? I'm still not sure how to use 'sapere' and 'conoscere' in Italian - obviously knowing how to speak and being able to speak are more or less the same, but if they've given the verb "sa" surely it should be "knows" in the translation?
I agree 'sa' from 'sapere' is to know not to be able to. That is 'potere'.
Why is "che" used as "and" in this sentence? (I think) this is the first time I've seen this on Duolingo.
It's a wrong english translation a more accurate would be: "My aunt is able to speak chinese as well as english." - Of course to refer to "chinese" as a language is as wrong as to say that in Mexico people speak mexican, or that in America they speak american. - the proper sentence should say "mandarin" as that is the official langauge in China.
- 266
you don't have to use the article with a family member in singular
https://www.duolingo.com/comment/15517439/Possessive-adjectives-articles-and-family-members
Because sia X che Y is a package meaning 'both X and Y' or 'X as well as Y'. The usual word for 'and' is not used in this package.
- 2367
I wrote "is able to" speak ... and was marked wrong? What's the difference between "can" and "able"?
It's closer to 'knows how to speak' since it's from sapere. Can is idiomatically fairly close to that, but 'is able' is just less common enough that it is linked with potere and thus not close enough for this. Since one of the things they are hoping you learn is what 'sa' (from sapere) is.
sometimes the english answers in duo lingo are debatable ( i am native) .. there is no difference in this (unspecific) context. we (english) just don't SAY: 'is able'. maybe in a more formal (written?) context such as for example a job application. but it is not wrong. p.s. i am disappointed not to find the greek for english speakers course available. are you greek? maybe you could give it a push!
- 1418
Why isn't it "la cinese" and "l'inglese" when speaking about the languages? Is the article included in sia and che?
I wrote "talk" instead of "speak"... why was it marked wrong??? Is the meaning in english altered?
It isn't really wrong, but "speak" is what we would use here. You would say, "I was talking about something," or "I was talking/speaking to somebody," but ,"I can speak English."
The verb parlare means both speak and talk. Why talk is not accepted? Is there any moderator capable to reply the questions?
It wont allow me to write the word, there is no word bank or keyboard entry
Apparently not even in the comments since we don't know what word it is you are talking about.
Its the last word of the phrase, duolingo will not allow me to add it therefore I can't continue!
