70 Comments
There is no his/hers since in Italian the possessive adjectives refer to the gender of the noun being possessed and not the possessor. So the possessor's identity is dependent on context. My teacher explained it this way. In the context of a story about a grandmother buying a present for her granddaughter, there was this sentence: "la nonna ha comprato un regalo per il suo compleanno." Il compleanno (birthday) is masculine and takes the singular male third-person possessive. The sentence does not let you know if the grandmother bought the gift for her own birthday or for another's birthday. An alternative way of saying this in Italian that would provide possessive and context would be: "la nonna ha comprato un regalo per il compleanno di Anna"--the grandmother bought a gift for Anna's birthday.
Thank you- this is so helpful! How about "la nonna ha comprato un regalo per il compleanno di la sua [granddaughter], Anna"? OR "la nonna ha comprato un regalo per la sua [granddaughter] Anna [in honor of OR to celebrate] il suo compleanno"? Actually, in Italian would it really be correct to say that she bought the gift "for" the birthday? The gift isn't for the birthday but for Anna. I know that in some languages this would not work.
I think the first would be ok, just remember to contract di+la to della. The second I think is grammatically correct, but I'm not sure of the syntax and if it would seem like a run on to a native speaker. It would become, "la nonna ha comprato un regalo per la sua nipote, Anna, per celebrare (in onore del) il suo compleanno." This is a question I'm curious about. And my teacher, who grew up in Nrn Italy mentioned no qualms about per for the birthday as opposed to the person. Hope this helps!
Thanks, vtc! Can you put two nouns together in Italian to form a new word, as in English (I think this is called a "compound noun"...?) ie, could we form the word "birthday present" somehow in Italian? That would certainly make it simpler: Come to think of it, why not "La nona ha comprato un regallo di cumpleanno per Anna" and ALSO, wouldn't it likely be assumed that Anna was the granddaughter unless specified otherwise? I'm thinking this would work on the same principal as body parts are clothing which are assumed to be ones own: "I broke my leg" would likely translate to "I broke the leg" in Italian, non e vero? :) Grazie mille!
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Since there is no his/her, shouldn't a valid translation also be "Its candy is on the plate"?
or "Their candy is on the plate"? I was gonna try "their" but I didn't want to get it wrong. Just put "her"
“their” in the plural sense of “belonging to them” is ‘loro’.
“their” in the gender-neutral sense of “belonging to him or her” is ‘suo|sua|sue|suoi’.
Le sue caramelle means plural ~ how can a correct translation be "His candy" too?
As a native English speaker, I can tell you that "candy" is plural. If you wish to refer to the singular, you'd have to say "a piece of candy" or "a candy bar" or specify the type of candy you were referring to (a gumdrop, for example). Hope that helps.
I too am a native English speaker and disagree, as candy can be singular, as in "I'll have a candy" or "I'd love a candy" (if someone is offering us one).
Yes, it is like deer of which the plural is also deer. One candy, a lot of candy, but unlike deer, it is perfectly acceptable to say many candies
Candy is a collective. It would take a singular verb, as in THe candy is all gone, not the candy are all gone.
It all depends if we want to take the time to count the candy or not. When it is counted, as kids often do at Halloween in the USA. It is not unusual to say 38 pieces of candy or 38 candies. Both are accepted in the dictionary.
http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/candies?showCookiePolicy=true http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/candy?showCookiePolicy=true
Note that candy is defined as sweets. Caramella is defined as a sweet; so caramelle would be sweets
Not always. I'm an American writer and I want to make a couple quick comments: 1. it's an American custom to keep "candy" In a dish or candy bowl. "Nel" would mean In for this application. 2. The candy inside the bowl is often referred to as Candies i.e. "Grandma, can I please have one of your (the) candies?"
I thinks it's idiomatic, like la verdura is singular but translates in English as vegetables, too. Think for example about a bowl of candy, there are multiple candies but we speak of it as one aggregate.
See what vfcampi has to say above. Le sue only refers to the candy. You have to infer the "possessor's identity" from the context, which of course isn't provided here.
If alternate translation is "candies" shouldn't the word choices (android) include that??
I don't think the singular makes sense. 'Le sue caramelle' refers to a plural feminine, which is are the candies in this case. Don't quite think it's right. Let's report and see.
"Candy" is very U.S., not used in many other English speaking countries, therefore "Sweet" or "caramel" should be acceptable
This sentence doesn't specify whether the possessor is male or female, so I guess you'd have to figure it out from the context. If you wanted it to say and mean "His candies are on the plate," how would you change the Italian?
«Le caramelle di esso sono nel piatto.» = “His candies are in the plate.”
«Le caramelle da essa sono nel piatto.» = “Her candies are in the plate.”
Really? I'm just learning, but "di lui" doesn't sound right Is there a native speaker you could ask?
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I'm surprised that no one has commented about the third word spoken "caramelle". I listened a half dozen times and wasn't coming up even close to "caramelle" or maybe my hearing is really bad. :-(
Well,this hasn't got to do with posessives but what's the deal with nel and sul?nel means in and sul means on, right?does nel mean on as well?
From what I remember nel only means in. However in Italian you would say that something is in a plate or a dish, not on it.
I think you are right. There is no acceptance of formal you in this section and when you try to do it you are told it's wrong. I've reported it. Of course I could be wrong.
They want you to capitalize "Suo" for formal you. This would only work for Oral to written exercise where it might need to be reported. Every exercise where we see suo is not formal you.
if there is "sono" in the sentence why is it not their candies instead of her candies?
Sono refers to the candies (which are plural here) and which are the subject of the sentence. The possessive pronouns for his or their do not take a verb. His/her candies are on the plate, or as discussed above it's probably ok too to translate as His/her candy is on the plate, but that doesn't change the Italian!
how are you supposed to tell whether it's His or Her because it says that one of the correct translations is "His candy is on the plate" however I also put in "Her candy is on the plate" and that was right also, how are you supposed to tell the difference ?
le sue means : his or her. but if it was "le" caramelle then your answer would be correct.
I kinda got the his/her thing. I don't understand, though, why it is not "e nel piatto"? Why must I say Am/Are on the plate?
1000000 times you wanted : candy- now its wrong - lollies. It gets so boring in the upper parts that I get agressiv.
Every single time the answer is 'nel' - she is saying 'nella' as clear as can be!!
I put 'her candies are on the plate' and it was marked wrong. Surely his or her should be acceptable since we have no context.
I used "their" since you cannot determine if it's his or her (no Lui oir Lei). I think it should be accepted, too.
Wouldn't that be "Le loro caramelle sono nel piatto."
http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/candy?showCookiePolicy=true
