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It's because in Italy , lawyers are considered a social class, or part of a social class of a certain type of people who are professionals. By saying "of the lawyers" you are simply recognizing this fact. My parents are in that group known as lawyers
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Read CivisRomanus explanation about the difference between using/omitting un: https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/23014358/My-father-is-a-lawyer
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Why is the sentence" we are not mailmen" then not translated as "non siamo delle postini"? Or should that be accepted as well (although it wasn't).
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I wrote "my parents are some lawyers", it was wrong. So my question is - why "degli" at all? Can we say "I miei genitori sono avvocati" without "degli"? And if it's the same meaning as with "degli", what's the difference?
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I wrote "My parents are some of the lawyers" and it was counted wrong. I can understand there's a difference, but now I'm wondering how that would be said in Italian if at all differently.
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For future generations: I think you can say that like this: I miei genitori sono alcuni degli avvocati. alcuni/e = some
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I also wrote, "My parents are attorneys" and it was considered incorrect. sigh
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You probably knew this already, but 'attorneys' is American English and 'lawyers' is British English. Both 'correct' :)...
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It's a bit more complex than that. "Lawyers" is beyond a doubt the most common word in the US. Try searching the net and don't forget: barrister and solicitor.
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Good one. Thank you for the laugh. Here is a good site for newcomers: >https://www.duolingo.com/comment/4821654
and a lingot to get you on the road to a great journey on Duo.
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Just for my own knowledge, in British english (I'm American), are both solicitors and barristers considered lawyers? And does italian have different words for these?
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No. Solicitors provide general legal services, whilst barristers appear in court (or 'practice at the bar' as it's termed) on behalf on their client. Barristers can only be appointed by solicitors, and not directly by clients. The barristers are the one's you see in courtroom dramas wearing the wigs; judges normally start life as barristers.
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Sorry. To answer your question, when someone refers to a lawyer in England, they are technically referring to a solicitor. Just to add to the confusion, barristers are often referred to as 'counsel' outside the courtroom. To be clear, the two roles are quite distinct professions.
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Good points. A lawyer, attorney, solicitor, barrister, or legal counsel all act as advocates for a client, acting on their behalf (from Latin 'advocare' to summon someone, to aid you). So in theory any of those job titles should be suitable translations for avvocatto or avvocattessa. Unless Italians use different names to describe specific legal occupations.
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Probably because the Duolingo moderators are Americans, or at least are familiar with American English.
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I don't think 'advocates' is ever used in this context in English (is it?)
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Yes, it could be. Here in South Africa an advocate, distinct from an ordinary lawyer (attorney) is a kind of specialist attorney who only operates in the High Courts. If you're in really deep stuff, your attorney may refer you to an advocate. He may win the case for you, but he'll ruin you financially :P.
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Check out this site. Now, learn it all 'cause you'll be tested on it.:-)) I just watched an American crime program where the arrested man kept repeating: "A lawyer, I want a lawyer......." again and again.
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It is, an advocate can either be a specific profession in the context of a legal system (typically referring to what one would consider either a defense attorney or prosecutor) or can be someone who advocates (i.e. defends or promotes) a certain cause.
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In French the forms 'de la', 'du', and 'des' (in the plural) have the meaning of 'some' in English. The rule is that you never just use a noun in French without using 'some' which we often omit in English as unnecessary. My semi-educated guess is that a similar grammatical rule would apply in Italian and probably Spanish and Portuguese too.
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But you can say in Italian "Mangio pane", so without 'il', can't you? This would be 'Je mange du pain' in French. So I'm not sure you really can say that those languages are similar.
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I suppose so, but I'd rather say "Mangio il pane" or "Mangio del pane". The latter one is the best in my opinion. I learn French and Italian too, so I can say this pretty definitely that "Je mange du pain" has the same grammatical construct as "Mangio del pane", with the same use and same frequency of use.
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Yes, I must agree on that, but Duolingo always says that 'Mangio pane/carne ...' is also right. That's why I suppose that in Italian, you can choose which form you use. But yes, 'mangio del pane' sounds better (also grammatically) indeed.
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however, Italian is more similar to Spanish in that sense, because you'd say "como pan" very often
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Well, in that case ... I believe you! (sorry, your other reaction didn't had a reply-button; very weird)
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In Italian, this form is used to emphasize the fact that someone belongs to a group. This sentence could also mean "... belong to the group of the lawyers", anyway the correct translation is "... are lawyers".
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i have another wonder: earlier in this lesson there was one saying 'lui fa il conduttore' [e.g.] with the explanation that in Italian they use "fare" for describing the job done; 'avvocato' is also a job - how come here is a different rule? [ok, I understand the social stance someone outlined in the comments before; I'd like to understand from the grammatical pov]
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cosi, e giusto. scritto cosi e duolingo ha detto che ho sbagliato. :( comunque, grazie!
What other professions would you use "degli" for, in this same sense? Doctors perhaps?
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Any profession. You can use "degli operai" (workers), "dei contadini" (farmers), "dei dottori" (doctors). It could also be used in other cases, for example "degli stupidi" (stupids), "delle persone gentili" (kind people). As I said before, it's only an emphatic form, it could also be omitted.
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Why is it "i miei genitori" and not "miei genitori"? I though there are no articles for close relatives.
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"I miei genitori sono gli avvocati" would mean that they are specific lawyers (maybe the only in the room, in the town, or the ones somebody spoke about two minutes before).
You can translate "My parents are lawyers." both as "I miei genitori sono avvocati" and "I miei genitore sono degli avvocati"
(you can consider "degli" as "some", the plural of "un")
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So, if I wanted to say "my mother is a lawyer" I couldn't say "mia madre é della avvocata"? It only works with plurals?
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Oh, and what about "my aunt and my mother are lawyers"? I would have to say "Mia zia e mia madre sono avvocate" or can I say "mia madre e mia zia sono delle avvocate" too?
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[QUESTION]
It's similar with "I miei genitori fanno gli avvocati", right?
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Yes, that's true. 'L'accord du participe passé', for example is similar in Italian. (sorry for the French, but it's better than my English :) )
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No, it's not wrong at all. 'Solicitor' is synonymous with 'lawyer' and 'attorney' and is commonly used in British English. Let Duolingo know.
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Ok now they changed the translation to "my parents are lawyers." I guess I am just going to have to concede that I really don't know the nuances of Italian enough. I guess I want to be right all the time but the language has many twists and turns that are frustrating for the student. It Is part of the process to be wrong !
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Yes, I'm sure you can. Have a look at marziotta's remarks above. She seems to know what she's talking about.
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"Gli" is not an article that would become a conjunction. Only il or la.
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Not correct. "gli" is an article, but it's plural. Only singular articles use the apostrophe. You could find "gl'avvocati" in ancient Italian writings, or in poetry, but in current Italian it is not correct.
i think kind of like "my parents of of the lawyers" - a bit like," they are of the ruling class" in english. Just my take on it so i can remember this.
How would you say “my parents are the lawyers” as in they are the specific lawyers? I handed this to Google Translate and it said “sono avvocati” or “sono degli avvocati” exactly as I would expect
