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- Topic: Italian >
- "Io sento la donna."
55 Comments
Yes. I was a naughty boy and put "I feel a woman" and......DL accepted it. lol.
Without further context, "I hear the woman" is the only thing an Italian would think.
"Io sento l'odore della donna" would be more common to say "I smell the woman"
As for what Elena18 says... It could be, but without context nobody would ever think at it. Another elegant way to say "I feel the woman" is "Io percepisco la donna"... but it's not something you will hear often.
Speaking of creepy, I think it could also mean "I feel the woman"...although I think it would mean "feel" as in sensing emotionally, not as in touching.
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I'd try "Io sento questa donna" to be more specific. Still, only if I want to sound ironic or funny.
Think of the word 'perceive' in English, and this may seem a little more manageable.
so u need to specify if you use this verb?
i found an example:
sento qualcosa per te. sento qualcosa su di te
the 1st means i feel something for you the 2nd means i'm hearing something about you
I think this is a homonym, meaning it can translate to "to feel" or "to hear" all based on context. Here's my reference: http://www.italki.com/question/35890
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nel_cor_pi%C3%B9_non_mi_sento
"sense" works for this sentence also, but this would be creepy if I "feel" the woman. If it were mutual then the verb "sentirse" would be used which is reflexive and then there would be two-way feeling going on, as in "feel each other".
ocf781- I was marked wrong in the past too, the reason being 'donna' is 'woman' whereas for DL 'lady' would be 'signora'. I disagree w/ DL to the extent that in English at least the two words 'woman' and 'lady' are often used interchangeably as synonyms without regard to social status or etiquette. Still, that's why your answer was marked incorrect.
It's exactly like the Catalan verb sentir, it also has these three meanings.
True, because Catalan and Italian have Latin roots. So does French. In French, it's sentir too
So when it's a bee "sento" is feel, but when it's a woman "sento" is hear. I want it the other way around!
Lol sento makes me want to think the spanish word for "sentir" yo siento lá donna.
Is senti not just 'sense'? How do we know it is hear, rather than smell/see/feel
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I swear sometimes I feel the only way to manage these tests is to have an English/Italian dictionary on hand BEFORE I answer. I thought she was saying cento instead of sento. I couldn't remember what either meant!
If a man says something in the forest and there is not a woman around to hear him, is he still wrong?
