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- "I miei genitori sono degli a…
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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
Not so much a "social class of professionals" but any group of people in the same line of work. Lawyers, doctors, butchers, postmen, mechanics, etc.
'Degli' And 'Dei' Can Also Mean "Some", Right? I Would've Thought It Was That Use.
Read CivisRomanus explanation about the difference between using/omitting un: https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/23014358/My-father-is-a-lawyer
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 don't think mailmen are a social class in itself. They are, like is said in England, part of the Working Class.
Or it's the partitive article, my parents being a (tiny) subset of the whole possible set of lawyers.
In the sentence where you choose the Italian words it was accepted without degli. I considered it first left it out and it indicated that its right. But than when it got read out they used it. I am confused do we can use it or do we have to use it?
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?
A guy said it over there, its like belonging to the lawyers/attorneys class, so youre "of the lawyers"
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.
For future generations: I think you can say that like this: I miei genitori sono alcuni degli avvocati. alcuni/e = some
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.
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?
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.
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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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.
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.
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".
"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")
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?
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?
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]
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?
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.
Why is it "i miei genitori" and not "miei genitori"? I though there are no articles for close relatives.
I wrote 'my parents are solicitors', because we don't use the term lawyer much in the UK - it should be accepted
Why not:"i miei genitori sono avvocati? Why do you need the "degli"
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 !
"Gli" is not an article that would become a conjunction. Only il or la.
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
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From the previous posts I think it is a way of indicating their social status as in they are “of the lawyer profession “ as opposed to sono avvocati which simply describes their qualifications.
If you can say 'mio cugino', why can't you say 'miei genitori' without the article?
Can we say the sentence without degli? Is there a difference in the meaning?
Yes, "degli" is obligatory. "Gli" is used for jobs which italian admire the most such as lawyers, judges etc.
Why is it OK to use the definite article 'i miei' here? (A response to another question said it was not appropriate with family members).
Because it is rule of a plural. Mia sorella = Le mie sorelle. Mio nonno = i miei nonni and so on.
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Is there a difference in use for: "Lei fa l'avvocato" and "loro sono degli avvocati", as in the meaning of one 'does' advocatory and the other 'is or are' advocate? Is it linked with the comment from yttap09 ?
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If you have to use "degli" for avvocati, then why the Tip from DL doesn't use the form "da" in the example? They just say "Mio marito è un avvocato"
if it's mio zio (no article) why is it I miei genetori 9with article)? Is it because it starts the sentence?
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Because the dropping the article rule for family only applies to the singular pronoun. It's also i miei figli etc.
