"Gli uomini bevono l'acqua."
Translation:The men drink the water.
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Masculine nouns that start with a vowel always take gli. Know that quite a few linguistic choices were made to improve fluidity of the language, so if it sounds clunky, chances are that it is wrong :)
Il is singular (and masculine) while gli (masculine) and le (feminine) are plural :)
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Singular articles: la, il, lo, contracted form l' (only for singular) / plural articles: le (plural for la), i (plural for il), gli (plural for lo)
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But sometimes even words that start with a consonant take "gli"... gli stupidi (the stupids), gli scimpanzè (the chimpanzees), gli zii (the uncles).
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Masculine articles: singular il, plural i. Exceptions: when a masculine noun starts with s+consonant, z, w, x, gn, pn, ps, singular form is lo and its plural gli
How would Italians distinguish between water in general and in particular? (i.e. here "The men drink water" is marked as correct also, and I've noticed that sometimes it's okay to leave the article off, but most of the time it is necessary.)
Should I say (as I would in English) something like "Non mangio la verdura" if I mean "I do not eat the vegetable (a particular vegetable, most likely)", and "Non mangio verdura" if I mean "I do not eat vegetables (in general)"? Or are they interchangeable?
In your case it would be incorrect to leave off the article since 'the vegetables' and 'vegetables' are entirely different. (N.B. the ending of 'verdura' would change in its plural form.)
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In a different exercise I translated "the men drink water" as "gli uomini bevono l' acqua" but it was still marked as wrong because of the use of l'. Apparently the use of l there was correct though. I believe both are correct: "Gli uomini bevono l' acqua" and "Gli uomini bevono acqua" and this was just a glitch of the system. Can anyone confirm if I'm wright please?
They are both correct. If an answer gets marked wrong, be sure to use the 'report a problem' button :)
Yes they are both correct, however for this particular exercise the quiz was asking you to write down what you HEAR which contains the "l"
No, even though they have the same meaning, one has the definite article and one hasn't. You have to spot the difference because it's not every case that the article doesn't interfere on the meaning. It's rather different to say, e.g. "The men drink water" and "Men drink water". In the first case, you are specifying a group of men with "the" (Gli uomini, definite article), in the second case you are generalizing that all men drink water (Uomini, without article). Hope it helps!
I read a post in another discussion where it was said that we don't have this actually sound in the english language and that to say it properly you needed to mimic the action we make for a t - lifting our tongue to touch the gums/roof of our mouth. How right they were.....made all the difference for me in pronouncing the word gli.
Well technically the sound is made a little differently. It's like the Spanish "ll" in "pollo" as it is said in Spain. Rather than rest your tongue on the ridge behind your front teeth, as you do when you say a normal "L," the middle of your tongue bunches up on the roof of your mouth.
Probably too much info but here you go: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palatal_lateral_approximant
How is "Gli" pronounce? is the g silent? it sould like "lee" (e.i. lee uomini bevono l'acqua.)
Yes, the "g" is silent, but you shouldn't say "lee" because "lee" is said with the tip of your tongue against your frontal teeth, "gli" is a "long L" said with the back of your tongue, just like you were gonna say the "g" but gives up and ends up saying only the rest, haha!
this is probably a really dumb question, but is the g in "gli" silent? i have trouble hearing and i've tried listening a ton of times and i still can't tell i'm sorry
My native language is Spanish, and I'm use to pronounce the "Gl"phonetically speaking, buy in this exercise if I pronounced, will not let be finish the sentence and will tell me I'm wrong, however if i don't pronounce the " G " the app say i got it correct.... Can a native Italian help? Do we pronounce the "G"?
According to some comments on this thread, the answer is that the "G" is silent, so the closest pronunciation is "lee".
Yes, because the article must agree in number with the noun. L' is a contraction for the singular masculine "Il", and "uomini" is a masculine plural. So you must use "Gli" that's the masculine plural for words that start with a vowel. In english "the" isn't flexible in number, that's why translating directly doesn't always work. :D
Pls help. Y at times the la is removed ??? In "Voi bevete acqua " Y la isnt there ??
MagnesiumO ! Do you know a apk or site that help us for pronunciation just by phonetic because I think audio isn't enough for pronouncing
i love dulingo it helps me learn italian which i really want to learn more italitan keep up the good work dulingo and one more thing love your apps!!!!!!!!!
It might be I didn't listen correctly but do you pronounce the 'g' sound combined 'li' in 'gli' or just pronounce 'li'?
No. l'uomini is wrong because it doesn't agree in number. L' is a contraction for the singular Il, and uomini is the plural of uomo. So, it's right to say l'uomo, but not l'uomini. The same applies to La donna and Le donne.
I am having a hard time understnading why you would say "Gli uomini" instead of "Il uomini".
When singular words start with a vowel (uomo), we use l' but when plural words begin with a vowel, l' is replaced with gli
Here's a way to make the "gli" sound. Say the word "ugly", minus the "ug-". The tongue starts positioned as with the end of the "g" sound then moves forward forming the "-ly". What do you think? Hit, miss, close or spang on?
The system will not pass my translation that is exactly as it is, The men drink the water.
