88 Comments
"The woman reads the boy." - sounds bad. "The woman reads to the boy." - sounds better. But hey: I'm german. ;)
I can't read boys - I tried it with my son, I swear! :D
1307
I'm going to take a guess and say that it is probably a conjunction of 'to' and 'the' like in Spanish 'a' means 'to' and 'el' is 'the' they put the two together and drop the 'e' to get 'al' but then again I'm only just learning Spanish and just started Italian today so who knows...
- 2011
You're correct.
* http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/italian/language_notes/al.html
* https://www.thoughtco.com/articulated-prepositions-in-italian-4056547
For people having trouble with the prepositions, there's this convenient chart of how they are formed:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/italian/language_notes/al.html
- 2011
Here's an alternative link: http://italian.about.com/library/fare/blfare153a.htm
Because then it would mean she reads so that the boy won't have to read (he's not particularly listening). Instead, "to the boy" means she is reading a story for him, and he HAS to be listening.
- 19
Reporting problems is the best chance to get them fixed. Use the "report problem" below the sentence.
In english the third person (he, she, it) have all the verbs with "s" in the end. Reads, plays, loves, etc etc... In this case the person is "the woman" (she), so she reads.
Reads, of course. Because "la donna" is "the woman." (third person). Duolingo doesn't teach you past tense yet :) So don't focus much on past tense for now.
Really? Do you mean "ragazzi" instead of "ragazzo"? If so, you can actually hear the difference if you listen carefully. I agree though. I had to repeat the automated voice so I could hear it clearly.
Ragazze = (what I heard) the "e" sounds "eh" Ragazzi = (what I heard) the "i" sounds "ee" like "bee." Don't worry. The articles will help you identify the word. Correct me if I'm wrong... (la) ragazza = the girl (le) ragazzi = the girls (il) ragazzo = the boy (i) ragazzi = the boys.
review please, ragazze(girls) is plural form of ragazza(girl) ragazzi(boys) is plural form of ragazzo(boy)
I'm confused on the read v. Reads because without the s it becomes part tense. How do you clarify.
The woman read to the boy. Vs. The woman reads to the boy. Past vs progressive.
- 2011
Past vs simple present. Progressive would be "is reading."
And Duolingo doesn't teach the past tense til much later, so if it's early in the lessons for you, it's safe to assume it's all simple present.
Past tense would be much harder so you have to learn the present tense first. I think when you use past tense, you need to put "have" before the verb. And the verb has to change into the past tense form. I don't know much about Italian. But I assume that some rules are somehow related to French, Spanish, etc...
Will "al" ever change depending on if the noun that follows is masculine or feminine?
- 2011
Yes. "al" is "a + il".
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/italian/language_notes/al.html
I am having difficulty following the double 'g' pronunciation. Sometimes it sounds like she is saying legge (Leg-gay) and sometimes it sounds like she is saying legge (Lezhay). Which is it? Are two 'g's always pronounced the same? Thank you!
The pronunciation of G and C are based on the next character. Any time a g or c is followed by an e or i, it is the hard G (pronounced like J or legge would be Lejay) or hard C (pronounced like Ch or ciao is pronounced chiow). Otherwise, they are soft like the g in gun or the c in cat.
Very helpful! I was wondering if the rule was inconsistent, but now I see it's just dependent.
So do I have this right for this verb?
io leggo loro leggono both have a soft 'g' - {lay-go} and {lay-go-no}
whereas
tu leggi lui/lei legge noi leggiamo voi leggete all have a hard 'g' - {lay-jee} {lay-jay} {lay-jee-ah-mo} {lay-jay-tay}.
I think your eplanatoion is not correct. What you call hard is soft an the other way round.
It is read when it is in second person,but in this case it is reads because it is in third person;-)
"Al" is a contract of "a il" and it becomes allo where you'd use "lo" (all' before vowel, ai/agli plural); female is alla, plural alle.
I have a very difficult tine distinguishing ragazzo (boys) and ragazzo (kids)...I just dont get it!
- 19
Simple. It's the same word. Ragazzo means one boy . Ragazzi means boys or children.
I typed the answer correctly, and it came up as incorrect. Has anyone else had this issue??
How are we supposed to know the spelling because I wrote one word wrong and if said that it was wrong even though it was a few typos
I got a sentence that said "The woman eats the sugar." This might be the same woman.......
- 2011
Yeah, preposition usage is one of the most difficult things to learn in a new language.
The woman reads for the boy.
Is its meaning different? It does not accept it!
Does it mean that the woman reads to someone else in interest of the boy? I am not English.
- 2011
The woman reads to the boy:
She is reading aloud for his benefit. Maybe he is her son and she is reading him a bedtime story. Maybe he just asked her what a sign says.
The woman reads for the boy:
She is reading something so he doesn't have to. Maybe she's reading an instruction manual so she can summarize what it says to him so he can get the idea of it without reading it directly.
This was the first time I gave a lingot. I thought the program will take one from my lingots
- 2011
Thank you.
And yes, that's how it works. The system transfers one of your lingots to my account.
The woman reads to the boy - it has the translation as the GUY not the boy... WTF
The boy= il ragazzo --- The boys = I ragazzi --- To the boy = Al ragazzo --- To the boys= Ai ragazzi
Ohh gush In the last lesson to the was translated as. "Ai", remember???
- 2011
"The" takes many forms in Italian, depending on whether the noun it's attached to is masculine or feminine, singular or plural, and what sound the next word begins with.
This is how prepositions combine with definite articles:
with the speaker ,whenever i speak into it pronouncing the sentence correctly it says it is wrong. Normally it is bad on duolingo
- 2011
If you're having trouble with the speech recognition program, you can turn off voice lessons in your settings.
- 2011
How exactly are you typing it? It's possible you're making a typo that you're just not seeing.
La donne legge al ragazzo/like...The women reads to the boy.but this answar not correct.why?
La donne legge al ragazzo.like,The woman reads to the boy.but this answer not correct.why?
Can someone help me how to pronounce "legge" is it like le je or lej ?
