"The elephants drink water."
Translation:Gli elefanti bevono l'acqua.
107 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
But the sentence is saying "The elephants drink water" not The elephants drink the water so why is the L' required for water in this case, because im pretty sure in previous exercises it is sometimes not necessary.
Yeah this is doing my head in.
Two questions previous it accepted " Le mucche bevono acqua" without the l' but now it insists that the only correct answer for this is "Gli elefanti bevono l'acqua"?
Can anyone explain why the article is needed for elephants but not cows? I swear it's doing this to drive me mad.
I totally agree! I dont know why its saging its wrong because it says "the elephants drink water" which is supposed to be "gli elephanti bevono acqua" but when u add the l' it nakes it the elephants drink THE water which was not the sentence we were suppsed to translate!!! Duolingo really ahould explain this as it is annoying
It must be a mistake of the makers to find the answer wrong Teachers do sometimes make mistakes too!
I have the same question as Jadenlie and Edsworld: why is l'acqua an answer choice when the original statement says "the elephants drink water" not, "the elephants drink THE water"?
One of the tips in an early Basics lessons states that in Italian you always have to use the definite article (il, la l' etc). So I'm confused as well.
because it is masculine plural with a vowel as first letter. You use "i" for masculine plural with a consonant as the first letter and "gli" for masculine plural with vowel as the first letter. you use "le" for feminine plural with a consonant and "l'.." for feminine plural with a vowel.
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I'm new to this language and hadn't taken that on board, so yes, an incredibly helpful answer. Thank you.
Oh. Does that mean that 'uve' is a feminine plural ? Because it is l'uve and not 'Gli uve'
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Is there an easier way to remember which version of 'water' I should use? As in, beve, bevono, beviamo etc. This is the only thing I'm really struggling with, and most of the time I'm totally guessing.
That's the verb to drink. Io bev-o, tu bev-i, lei bev-e, noi bev-iamo, voi bev-ete e loro bev-ono. I think you should have picked this up in an earlier class. The difficulty in the app is that there is often no explanation why specific grammar exists...
edit: I've added the "-" to show the different conjugations more clearly.
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Yeah, I understand how it works. I meant to say 'to drink' instead of 'water', that's my bad. I just cannot remember when I should use bevi or beviamo or bevete etc. I was just wondering if there is an easier way to remember them, and which one I should use. Because I really struggle with them.
You've understood now right? Io bevo = I drink, tu bevi = you drink, lei/lui beve = he/she drinks and then we, you and they (drink). In italian the verb is generally used without io/tu/lei/lui etc. since it is enclosed in the conjugation. I'm afraid there are no shortcuts to learning these conjugations and since Italian offers more tenses there are more to remember. Repetition is key here.
In this case the elephants are plural, therefore in English you'd say "They drink" thus "bevono". If you'd drink water it would be "bevi l'acqua"
(I've edited my previous post to show the way the verb is conjugated more clearly)
You have to memorize the conjugation of the verb. Or keep a journal and write conjugations in it. I did that at the very beginning because there is nowhere in the App to reference how to conjugate verbs in any language. But I find as zi conti ue in different languages, that making the mistake helps to correct and learn the conjugation. But if you cannot remember, write it on a sticky note and post it on yr batbroom mirror. You will learn it very quickly.
I supplement Duolingo with "Essential Italian Grammar" by Olga Ragusa. This is an inexpensive Dover book. I like to understand how conjugations work, not just memorize.
To Jamie89 and anyone having trouble conjugating verbs.
Verb conjugation is an essential part of Italian and all other Romance languages, so don't guess. Duolingo introduces verb conjugation early (in Basics, level 1, I think). Considering the importance of verb conjugation, they could stand to give many more examples and practice in verb conjugation or at least create a drop down box that shows the conjugation of the verbs in any given sentence.
Simply put, verbs are conjugated to indicate who is performing the action of the verb, ie who is drinking, eating, working etc. The Italian word for "to drink" is "bevere." To conjugate "bevere," remove the -ere ending and add o, i, e, ete, iamo, or ono to indicate I drink, or you drink, or he drinks, etc. Most present tense verbs follow this pattern. Following is how you would conjugate Bevere:
I drink = Io bevo, You drink (singular) = Tu bevi, He drinks = Lui beve, She drinks= Lei beve, You drink (pl.) = (y'all drink, alla y'all drink, you'se all drink) = Voi bevete, We drink= Noi beviamo, They drink=Loro bevono
An example a verb ending in -are: Mangiare = to eat. I eat = io mangio, you eat = tu mangi, he/she eats = lui/lei mangia, y'all eat (you, pl.) = voi mangiate, we eat = noi mangiamo, they eat = loro mangiano,
My Italian friend tells me that in typical conversation, Italians do no use the pronouns. They just use the conjugated verb. So instead of saying noi beviamo, they would simply say, "beviamo." The "iamo" ending tells the listener, that WE drink" Duolingo initially uses pronouns along with the verbs to cement them in your brain, and then gradually begins to use the pronouns less often.
I hope this helps anyone who is struggling with verb conjugation. Don't give up. You'll get it!
I've had to memorize some, but for others I've come up with a few tricks. Ex: ~Loro rhymes with bevono (same for mangiano, scrivono, leggono, etc) so the one that rhymes would be correct in this case.
~Beve is used in place of the english "drinks" and in italian an e is used instead of an s to show a plural. So "she drinks" would be "lei beve" in italian, since the singular "bevo" is now plural.
~The first concept applies to bevo. "Io" rhymes with "bevo". (If you get confused with bevo and bevono since they both rhyme, just remember that "Io" is shorter than "Loro", and "Bevo" is shorter than "Bevono"- longs and shorts together.
As for the rest, memorization. Hope this helps!
Hint. Find what relation there is between these: a, e, I, o, u and the articles( l' gli le I etc.) It will help you!
This question asked to translate "the elephants drink water". I provided the answer "gli elephanti beviano acqua" but it was marked wrong with the correct answer being "gli elephanti bevoano l'acqua". However that would be the translation for "the elephants drink the water", which this question wasn't asking. Why was I marked wrong?
So, I'm still confused as to when to use l'aqua. The English didn't have a 'the' before the water. Any tips?
I was going to put "gli elefanti" until Duolingo told me to put "l'elefanti"...
I didn't use the article for acqua in my translation, and it was accepted. However, "Another Correct Solution" was offered including the article. Why are both accepted here? If the english doesn't include the article why should a translation that contains the article be considered correct???? What is the rule?
The hints should be more accurate! I dislike to place my suggestions and nothing happens!!!!
why do we use gli sometimes and I other times to mean the same thing. Also how is I gatti and le gatte the same thing
Gli for masculine plural words that begin with a vowel,s or z. I for all the others masculine plural words. Also an easy way to remember the general rule is to memorize this scheme: Singular: il, lo, la Plural: i, gli, le The colums match (witch means that i is plural of il, gli of lo, le of la). I gatti = a group of male cats Le gatte = a group of female cats In english is the same thing is you don't pute the male/female word.
How come in a previous question it says "Gli elepanti bevono acqua" which we give the answer as "the elephants drink water". But now with this question which is the same is says to use "l'acqua"?
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So why can " the elefants drink water' - "Gli elefanti bevono acqua", but "The cats drink milk" has to be "I gatti bevono il latte?
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Agree. Very confusing.... In tips it stated in English, "the" is not always necessary but in Italian "the" is always necessary. But then, one exercise said to translate "Le mucche bevono acqua." (and had no "l" in front of acqua) to English which i got correct: The cows drink water. However next exercise was translate The elephants drink water to Italian and I got it wrong because I didn't put the "l'" in front of acqua. Therefore, is the tip wrong?.....
when you go over the word elephants with your pointer it says - elefante (plural)... but in the answer they use elefanti for plural.
I thought Gli is for masculine plurals. If elefante is a female word, shouldnt this be l'elefanti, not Gli elefanti?
Most masculine singular nouns end in "o", but some end in "e." Elefante is a masculine, singular noun ending in "e," so the plural construction would be "Gli elefanti."
Bevono is used when its matched with Loro: meaning They Drink. Beviamo is used when its matched with Noi: meaning We Drink.
It didn't say "the" in the English sentence. How do you know when to add "l'" in the translation?
How to know when we you "gli" and when "i" and when "l". For example how to know that it's "gli elefanti" and not "i elefanti"? Thanks :)
In previous exercices one could choose to write "acqua" or "l'acqua" when they ask for the translation of the word "water" and now all of the sudden they don't accept "l'acqua" anymore. How come? I thought I got it .
I keep getting confused when to use or not use l', le, or la before an object when tjere is no "the" in the English. Has it to do with whether it is direct or indirect?
You are mistaken again you marked mine wrong 3 x and it is exactly the same as your answer
In a previous sentence (le mucche bevono aqua) it wasn't correct to write " L" before the word "aqua" and in that sentence it's acceptable?!?! I can't get it (gli elefanti bevono l'acqua)
When you start this exercise we are asked to translate "gli elefanti bevono acqua", the answer you marked as correct was "the elephants drink water". Now, however, when you ask us to translate "the elephants drink water" you are insisting the translation to Italian should be "glI elefanti bevono l'acqua". Where in the English is the word "the"? Would you be so kind as to be consistent. If you are not consistent how are we students ever to progress? Get it right, one way or the other, please.
why is the article here? does water or milk have a plural? or do they elephants or cats drink all the milk and water in the world ???
The English sentence should read "The elephants drink the water" OR all the Italian answers should not contain "l'acqua" but just "acqua". But apparently I am one of many who have noticed this, yet you have not fixed this since the first time I was presented with this question.... disappointing!
Still gives an incorrect answer for not stating l'acqua where the question does not state an article of water just water in general
5 seconds ago there was a sentence with the same meaning. And you gave it without article L. I think you are not correct.
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Lost a heart due to a spelling mistake when everything else was correct. Seems harsh. This is what is me off subscribing.
Marked it wrong for me. Still insists I put l'acqua even though the word "the
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The sentence did not say "the" water. It merely said water. Therefore my translation should be accepted.
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Yo, Duolingo. It says "water", not "the "water". No l' required. Fix this and give me back the gyms I lost.
