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- "I eat your cakes."
"I eat your cakes."
Translation:Io mangio le tue torte.
82 Comments
Unless you count "you all", English doesn't really have a way of specifying if the second person is singular or plural. "You" works for both. However in Italian, there are three ways you can translate "you" and only two that you need to worry about until you get further down the skill tree:
- 2nd person singular : tu (le tue torte)
- 2nd person plural : voi (le vostre torte)
- formal you, 3rd pers. sing. conjugation : Lei (le Sue torte)
So you're right! One of the translations here indicates that you are eating the cakes owned by many people.
103
I'm confused. It seems to me that "le sue torte" would be her cakes, rather than your cakes. What am I missing?
There are two different "you"s in Italian: the singular and the plural. For both of these (indeed, for all of the pronouns), there are four different possessives, because possessives (like articles and adjectives) must agree with the noun they go with, not "whose" they are.
TU
il tuo = your singular masculine thing
la tua = your singular feminine thing
i tuoi = your plural masculine/mixed/unknown things
le tue = your plural feminine things
VOI
il vostro = your singular masculine thing
la vostra = your singular feminine thing
i vostri = your plural masculine/mixed/unknown things
le vostre = your plural feminine things
26
It was expecting a plural masculine object when you wrote 'i vostri', so it felt the masculine word for 'sweets' (which include 'cakes') was 'dolci'. As 'torte' is feminine plural, the possessive that goes with it is 'le vostre' when you are talking to multiple people.
169
I wrote:" le vostre torte" and " le tue torte" and only the second answer was right. But this is not correct.Both possibilities are okay. But I lost a heart, it would be better, to get double points!!! But Duo is not able to read this and I am disappointef
Both "le vostre torte" and "le tue torte" ought to be accepted. However, you probably had an error somewhere. From now on, please copy&paste or screenshot your answer so we can help you see the real reason it marked you wrong.
It looks like you typed two different answers in the same submission. The answer database and the correction algorithm are not set up for that. You need to decide on one or the other.
465
Remember: 'le' here comes from Latin 'illae' (those; female plural), whereas 'la' is from the singular 'illa'.
If you remember the rule in Latin: -us/-i (masculine) and -a/-ae (feminine), so illus/illi = lo/gli, and illa/illae = la/le.
If you address a single person as TU:
il tuo = your singular masculine thing
i tuoi = your plural masculine/mixed/unknown things
la tua = your singular feminine thing
le tue = your plural feminine things
If you address multiple people as VOI:
il vostro = your singular masculine thing
i vostri = your plural masculine/mixed/unknown things
la vostra = your singular feminine thing
le vostre = your plural feminine things
If you address a single person as LEI (formal/polite):
il Suo = your singular masculine thing
i Suoi = your plural masculine/mixed/unknown things
la Sua = your singular feminine thing
le Sue = your plural feminine things
If you address multiple people as LORO (formal/polite):
il Loro = your singular masculine thing
i Loro = your plural masculine/mixed/unknown things
la Loro = your singular feminine thing
le Loro = your plural feminine things
- The gender and number agree with the thing(s) possessed, not with who possesses it/them.
- For now, don't worry too much about the formal/polite forms, but just keep them in the back of your mind.
Verbs in Italian conjugate more thoroughly than they do in English.
https://www.italian-verbs.com/italian-verbs/conjugation.php?parola=mangiare
io mangio
tu mangi
lui/lei mangia
noi mangiamo
voi mangiate
loro mangiano
When you're using the possessive adjective, you must use the definite article except with unmodified singular family members.
When you're using the possessive pronoun, it's correct with or without the definite article, but the meaning subtly changes between "the THING (vs something else) is mine" and "the thing is MINE (vs someone else's)".
Which form of the definite article you use depends of course on the grammatical gender and number of the noun that is possessed.
What precisely was your answer? Because if it was just a matter of "le vostre torte" vs "le tue torte", then that should have been accepted, and you can flag that and report it. But if you forgot "le" or if you used the wrong vostr*
from, that is not a good translation.
Or if you had an extra space, that's a bug that will make Duo mark you wrong.
Or if you built it from tiles in the word bank and you dragged instead of tapped, that's a bug that will make Duo mark you wrong.
The informal/casual way to address someone is tu
and so when talking to that person it would be "le tue torte". The formal/polite way to address someone is Lei
and so when talking to that person it would be "le sue torte".
For multiple people, informally, it would be voi
and "le vostre torte". Polite register would be Loro
and "le loro torte".
http://italian.about.com/cs/grammar/ht/formalinformal.htm
https://www.pimsleurapproach.com/resources/italian/grammar-guides/formal-informal/
dolci
is literally sweets
but is also used to refer to confectionery.
La Dolce Vita = The Sweet Life
Strictly speaking, possibly. Most (not all but most) adjectives do come after the noun in Italian. Some come before, some can come before or after, depending the meaning. Numbers and possessives always come first.
- https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/40313254/When-to-put-adjective-before-noun
- https://www.thoughtco.com/italian-adjective-order-4098168
- https://blogs.transparent.com/italian/adjectives-and-their-position/
- https://onlineitalianclub.com/free-italian-exercises-and-resources/online-italian-course-upper-intermediate-b2/la-posizione-degli-aggettivi/
- https://www.italyheritage.com/learn-italian/course/grammar/adjectives.htm
But Fellini was Italian---born, raised, lived, and died in Italy. So there are a few possibilities:
- It's a fixed phrase, like "time immemorial" in English, where the noun "time" comes first
- He was playing with the language, as was the screenwriter who made "Il Tigre". "La tigre" is grammatically feminine in Italian, regardless of the sex of the individual animal.
I'm amused at how everyone is assuming that the people are sitting at a table, and one reaches over and takes food off of the other's plate.
Maybe the other person is a baker who sold some cakes, and the buyer is letting them know they're a customer. "I eat your cakes, and they're great. Keep up the good work."