"Perché lui non tira su i pantaloni?"
Translation:Why doesn't he pull up his pants?
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Hilarious! I'm glad we're learning these practical phrases.
Reminds me of when I recently learned that tiramisu = tira mi su = pick me up. My mind was blown.
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My mind is blown too. I always thought it odd that an Italian dessert had such a Japanese-sounding name. TIL.
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Isn't tiramisu made out of coffee as well? And coffee has caffeine in it, which perks you up. Weird.
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Until today, I thought it may "Tear me apart". It seemed to make sense to me at the time.
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Love it...just like that, an easy mnemonic for remembering 3 italian words - Tira mi su
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it's in another sentence--"excuse the grandfather, he's old" ;)
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For a moment there I was afraid "sagging" had caught on with Italian youth -_-
Because here "su" isn't a preposition, but an adverb (opposite of "giù"), so it isn't modified. While prepositions introduce phrases (sui pantaloni = on the pants), adverbs modify verbs (tirare su = pull up).
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Thank you for that explanation; it helped me understand why translating it to the English idiom 'he puts on his pants' is wrong. Could you answer two follow up questions for me?
(1) is this true?
he puts on his pants = lui mette suoi pantaloni (preposition 'su' not required because verb mettere is being used as a transitive verb that takes a direct object ...)
http://italian.about.com/library/verb/blverb_mettere.htm
(2) would that be a case where we can omit the possessive preposition suoi? (#2 in link below)
he puts on his pants = lui mette i pantaloni
http://www.arnix.it/free-italian/italian-grammar/possessive-adjectives-in-italian.php
Yes, that's correct, except that you need the article in 1) too, "lui mette i suoi pantaloni". As I wrote below, making the possessive explicit could imply that they're someone else's pants.
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Along the same lines, I remember my landlady in Bologna where I was studying for a month using the term "qua giu' which I wasn't familiar with. She was referring to where breakfast would be served - essentially "downstairs" vs "qua su" meaning "upstairs". So yes, they're adverbs.
So tirare can can mean either "throw" or "pull"? In English, these two words are not exactly opposite, but nearly so. For example, you "pull" a door open (towards you). The exact opposite is "push" (away from you). But you can also use "throw" to mean pushing away rapidly.
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Yes, that's how it is. The verb in spanish also has the dual meanings.
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Oh. Duh. That's why suspenders are called "tirantes". Pants-puller-uppers. I learn something new every day here.
Poor Brazilian guy here heard "tira suoi pantaloni" and translated "take his pants off".....weird....
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Ah well. I translated it as "why doesn't he throw his pants". :-)
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I'm brazilian and that was my first thought lol I translated tira as take off in another example
why wouldn't it be "perche lui non tira su i SUOI pantoloni?" The example seems to read "why doesn't he pull up the pants?" Many thanks in advance!
In Italian it's common to omit the possessive when it agrees with the subject, and in this case adding "suoi" could suggest he's pulling up someone else's pants.
Generally that the subject is the owner:
- Parcheggio la (mia) macchina - I park my car
- Hai perso il (tuo) portafogli - You lost your wallet
- Vai a casa (tua) - Go home / Go to your home
With the third persons it also happens when you normally wouldn't use the article:
- È suo padre / È il padre - He's his/her father
And there are some less intuitive cases where the rule is inverted:
- Mi fa male la spalla - My shoulder hurts (literally the shoulder hurts me)
- Mi ha rigato la macchina - He scratched my car (literally he scratched the car to me)
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it was 'the subject is the owner part' I was missing to understand it. I figured it must be the case however I was not completely sure. Thanks
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If you ever study Spanish, you'll find it works exactly the same way.
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03.05.1014
Another solution(Duo): "Why does he not pull up his pants?"
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If tirare can mean either "pull" or "throw" then the sentence could be saying that he has eaten his pants and the speaker can't understand why he doesn't throw them up. :)
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Following that thread maybe he's exhausted running...out of things to wear and has been panting too much.
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At least he's wearing pants in this exercise (he wouldn't /wasn't in an earlier one). :D
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I too wrote ...i suoi pantaloni -- and got it wrong. It seems picky on DLs part.
what is the different between don't and doesn't i used don't and it was rejected
First person singular in English: I do Second person singular: you do Third person singular in English: he does, she does, it does. For plurals, it's "we do", "you (all) do", "they do".
"don't" = " do not" "doesn't" = "does not"
You are using the wrong verb form when you say "he don't"; just like you can't say "I doesn't". I hope that helps.
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Well well, what a hoot to learn about 'tiramisu' from tikidog. DL sure conjures up some weird phrases. I've been reviewing Italian both from English & French, and taking part in the discussions this time!! I'll have to check out how to say 'pick-me-up' in French to let that group know about the non-Japanese 'tiramisu'. I must object to 'tirante' for suspenders; it's more a guy or brace. Bretelle may be better, like the French 'bretelles'.
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Ok, i understand that "tirare su" belongs together. So the space between su and i is correct. The italian sentence does not express precisely that the pants are his pants. It's implied.
