"Dico sempre di sì."

Translation: I always say yes.

[peter2108]

This is an idiom? 'dire di si' and 'dire di no' and 'dire di nuovo'. Or is it as construction so that to say often might be 'dire di spesso' ? Where is Ant?

[f.formica]

The preposition "di" in this case introduces an indirect discourse; it's hard with this example, so let me switch.

• Direct discourse: Dico: facciamo così! (I say: let's do it like this!)

• Indirect discourse: Dico di fare così (I say to do it like this)

The problem is that "yes" and "no" aren't actually considered discourse, but the discourse can be summarized with a single noun; yes, it is idiomatic to some extent.
For more examples of "di" used this way: "Ti racconto della mia gita al mare" (I'll tell you of my trip to the seaside); "parlo di lui" (I'm talking about him).

[GfKi91]

Doesn't "di sì" mean "so" as well? Why the translation "I always say so" is marked wrong?

[CheeseS]

Sorry...I have a question about one of your example:"Ti racconto della mia gita al mare". Besides this I saw on the internet the phrases as: Ti racconto DI me; Lui racconta DELLA vita; racconto DEL lupo ai bambini, etc..I know "raccontare" is a transitive verb but why in these cases they can use a preposition "di"??Thank you.

[f.formica]

Raccontare doesn't have to be followed by "di" in its proper transitive meaning, but that's when the object is "the thing" being told, rather than the topic: "ti racconto la mia storia" (I tell you my story), "raccontami la tua versione dei fatti" (tell me your version of the facts). I feel that it's rather hard to make the distinction come across though...

[CheeseS]

mmm...non è affatto sempliceXD. Ho trovato inoltre: raccontare di eventi passati, raccontare di sport, raccontare di aver visto la torta più grande al mondo, raccontare di gusto, raccontare di una città, raccontare di Michelangelo...ecc.
Possiamo dire che quando segue un verbo oppure quando si parla di qualcuno, la vita ed esperienze, o la storia di qualche luogo ci si mette "di"...se ho capito bene...o no?? Non sono per niente sicuraXD.

[f.formica]

Complimenti, ottimo italiano :) Penso che sia più o meno così, tranne per il seguire il verbo, ad esempio "voglio raccontare una storia".

Also (switching back to English for others), "mangiare di gusto" is a locution that means eating and enjoying it, so "raccontare di gusto" is more a journalistic pun than a common sentence :)

[CheeseS]

Thank you for your prompt responce! Scusa se ho scritto il messaggio precedente in italiano, me la cavo meglio con l'italiano che con l'inglese perciò quando discutiamo su un argomento un po' complesso preferivo parlare in italianoXD. Anyway, thanks for clarifying my doubts, it were very useful explanations:D! (Non lo sapevo di "mangiare di gusto"...quindi "raccontare di gusto" era un gioco di parole....grande!)

[peter2108]

I think because in these cases 'di' introduces indirect discourse. In English we use 'about' or 'of' to do this.

[peter2108]

Difficult. dicere che + subjunctive for indirect discourse marked typically in English by 'that'.

However we use dicere di if the subject of dicere is also the subject of the indirect clause. But dico di fare cosi has no subject in the indirect clause so perhaps the rule is more general.

Then we also use di when in English we use 'about' though here there is no indirect discourse marker in the English.

Finally for raccontare when the object is linguistic you do not use a preposition.

I think mi dica cosa che hai visto is 'tell me what you saw' but as the object is linguistic like 'your version of events' maybe you can use a simple object? Should it be subjunctive. Maybe there is no rule ...... maybe I should try an easy language like Finnish!

[KarenColle]

Where is Ant? Relaxing in his formicary, I hope! Come to think of it, I've never see an ant taking it easy...so he's probably studying...which is why he knows so much!!!..♡

[mkajitaly]

Why is the "di" in this sentence? I would have guessed "Dico sempre sì". Dico already means "I say".

[duracel84]

Can I say "Dico sempre che si"?

[peter2108]

Thanks! I will try a couple of examples myself:

• Dico di andare a casa (I say lets go home)

• Dicono dell'albergo (They talk about the hotel)

BTW Are the formatting codes listed anywhere?

[f.formica]

I wonder, I only found some of them and by chance :)

The first example is perfect, the second is a little awkward for some reason, though it might be fine depending on the context.

[peter2108]

Ah, well (for others) you do your bullets by a blank line, then start with '-' for each bullet on a new line:

• first bullet

• second bullet

If you don't leave a blank line between each bullet then you get a slightly different format:

• first bullet
• second bullet

If you indent a paragraph after a blank line you get this:

<pre>this is an indented paragraph this is an indented paragraph this is an indented paragraph this is an indented paragrap this is an indented paragraph. </pre>

and you can do italics like this italic and bold like this bold where I did
*italic* and **bold** and use \ to prevent the effect.

Finally if you use backticks ` around some text you get an inline version of the pink paragraph

I am not sure but I think that Duolingo is using a markup up language called Restructured text which you can find here http://docutils.sourceforge.net/docs/user/rst/quickref.html though I have no idea how mujch of it they support!

[banay]

ohh thx for that

[xyphax]

Here are two links on formatting. The first describes the markup language duo is using in particular specification, the second is a beautiful discussion inside duolingo all about this.
http://www.reddit.com/r/raerth/comments/cw70q/reddit_comment_formatting/#content
https://www.duolingo.com/comment/1352379

[Jae633849]

Se dici sempre di sì, fini di fare molte cose molto noiose.