- Forum >
- Topic: Italian >
- "Scrivo su fogli bianchi."
40 Comments
261
Sui (su + i) translates as "on the" for plural nouns. No matter which direction you are translating this exercise, there is no "the" in either the English nor Italian sentence. Sul and sui do not work to translate the English sentence, and adding a "the" is not a proper translation for the Italian exercise (because there is no 'l' nor 'i").
Why? Well, the only definite article in English is "the", and when used it refers to a specific thing/noun. I can only guess that the intention of the exercise is to:
1) Point out that "sheets of white paper" could be considered a general and non specific thing, thus no "the". (See Justinnnnnn's and others comments below).
2) Focus on understanding the definite article
3) The exercise is pointing out that there are multiple ways to create a meaning in both languages. Sometimes we use "the" and sometimes we don't.
My best advice is to not add words that may mirror how you are used to saying something when translating but to focus on the parts of speech/grammar and translate from there.
752
Thank you for taking the time to tell us that. I love that this international community of language learners is so helpful to each other! :)
150
"Sul" would be the singular contraction; "su" + "il" = "sul" The object in this is plural ("su" + "i" = "sui"), though that doesn't seem to be accepted either. Why it's not accepted is beyond me.
612
White papers was not accepted. Strange, because DL is usually so pedantic about singular and plural
2661
"I write on the white papers". Wrong. Next time I wrote, "I write on the white paper" it was also wrong!
Damned if I do...
989
"I write on white papers" wasn't accepted. I would never say sheets of paper, it takes too long to say!