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- Topic: Italian >
- "Sono la nona al bar."
105 Comments
Not really sure what this sentence is supposed to describe ...Am I the ninth person to arrive at the bar? Am I on the ninth stool at the bar? A ballerina arriving late to class? An attorney at court? "I am ninth at the bar" is an odd construct.
in Italian '' bar'' is also used as coffee shop , therefore I think it is referring to a line at a coffee shop '
I would think that only your first suggestion is correct. Il bar describes only the enitre place, I think, and not the actual table in front of the bartender. Also the "bar" at which a ballerina practices (coincidentally the same English word) is definitely not "il bar" in Italian. I think it's just one of these Duolingo sentences that help us practise our vocabulary, but end up being a little odd.
325
- The coffee bar = il bar
- The table in front of the bartender = il bancone
- The barre at which a ballerina practices = la sbarra
They must have a special sport in Italy: Racing towards the bar after work
The grandmother at the bar? Nona is colloquial for grandmother. Or is it spelled with 2 n?
ops... ho scritto "sono la nonna al bar" povera la nonna che non va al bar...
In Italia ci sono molte nonne che vanno al bar perché il bar è in primo luogo un posto per bere del caffè. :)
I was about to put that but then I looked at the sentence closer and realized
This is the Duolingo bar and it is open so that you may drown your sorrows at the Duolingo hearts you've lost!!
Because the person is a female. If the person was male the sentence would go like this: "Sono il nono al bar."
- 325
yes, that is true for all of the ordinal adjectives.
- primo/a - secondo/a - nono/a - dodicesimo/a (12th) - venticinquesimo/a (25th)
- 998
2019-12-11 It is for this reason that I believe, "I am the ninth girl at the bar," should be accepted. LOL
And therein lies the confusion! How are we supposed to know who Duolingo thinks we are are in this case?!
I tried I am the grandmother at the bar but realized that nonna has two n's. Oops. Besides, the fact that this is a unit on numbers should have given me a clue
Did anyone else think it said "dar" instead of "bar"? Lucky it only labelled it as a spelling mistake ahaha
Anyone else see nona and (for some reason) immediately assume the sentence means "I am the nun at the bar?"
... just me? Okay.
- 502
Why isn't this "they are" instead of "I am"? I assume I just missed something that inidicates 1st person signular as opposed to 3rd person plural. Would "nona" be a differnent form?
'ninth' does vary with gender and number of the noun, so it could very well be none if it was a 'they' sono rather than a 'I' sono
- 2552
I'm still not sure about this, but I think you are right. According to the following link one can read, "Since Italian ordinal numbers function as adjectives, they must agree in gender and number with the nouns they modify: primo, prima, primi, prime." http://italian.about.com/library/fare/blfare134b.htm
- 326
I was not sure myself, so I looked into it. Ordinals do vary. I think 'they are ninth' = 'sono noni/none'
Copied from WR:
Forme flesse di 'nono' (n): pl: noni
Forme flesse di 'nono' (adj): f: nona, mpl: noni, fpl: none
yes, "la" indicates it is only one person and feminine.
I am ninth at the bar = Sono la nona / il nono al bar (depending on gender)
They are ninth at the bar = Sono le none / i noni al bar (depending on gender)
Adding to the discussion about "They are" vs "I am" - I tried google translating "They are the ninth at the bar" and it still came back as "Sono nono al bar" so I think it should be accepted. Any comments?
- 2552
According to Ariaflame's earlier comment, it could be "Sono none al bar" for "They are ninth at the bar".
Or noni if they are a mixed or all male group. Sono le none or sono i noni
And google translate is not the ultimate arbiter of grammar.
Thank you, Ariaflame, for your helpful comments, it can be understood now.
That's actually a pretty good translation after nine bars - or did you just drink milk? ;-)
LOL With the way I am, definitely would just be drinking milk, I am obsessed with white milk. :P
+1 I didn't see that one coming.
So let's sum up: You were chewing your ninth Milky Way bar while playing the ninth bar of Beethoven's 9th at the ninth bar's piano. (Who wants to translate that into Italian?)
pls. somebody tell me what is the reason for the "la" to be present in the sentance. Is it just an idiom?
- 2552
"La nona" means "The ninth". Although "The" is not in the English sentence, it is the norm in Italian.
No, there is a difference in pronunciation between 'nonna' and 'nona'.
- 115
Why is wrong to use "the" with the ordinal number (the ninth)?Why is it important with "bar"(at the bar)
Ugh. Why doesn't "Sono la nona al bar" translate to " I am the ninth at the bar"? Why is the first article dropped while the second remains?
- 2552
Because it is not necessary with the article "the" before numbers in series. "The first, the second, etc". It is correct to say just "first, second, third, etc"., unless there is a noun after the number. i.e., "The first ball", "the third prize", etc. Here, the article is referring to the noun, and not the number.
In the given sentence, there is no noun after "ninth", and therefore no article before.
- 346
It's not necessary to have the article before the ordinal, but it's perfectly standard English.
Am i missing something or are these type of questions a 50% gamble guessing whether it will be 'at' or 'to' the bar?
I don't think it's a gamble, you will know from the verb that's going with it:
vado al bar = I go to the bar,
sono al bar = I am at the bar.
Did that help with your question?
I cannot see the other sentences, if you make some examples I can try to help you. :)
If the bar is a cafe bar, then 'I am the ninth in the bar' should also be correct. I would only use 'at the bar' in a pub situation. In a coffee shop I would call it the counter.
I still can't figure it out when the al, di etc take the article and when not
Even speaking in Italian wouldn't it be logical to say that " I am ninth in line at the bar"?
For what? I don't see café anywhere, but café is used even in English for a place that sells coffee among other things.
i've translated in english like "I am ninth in the café". my answer was accepted, but it said i made a typo and the correct answer was "I am ninth in the cafe". this is why i'm asking actually..
grandmother status at the bar...way to go duolingo! lol odd setence from the universe of possibilites.....
The 9th changes form/ending to match the subject. So they are 9th = Sono i noni / Sono le none
...unlike 9 which stays as nove (i think. lol...)
La nona because it is a woman saying she's 9th at the bar. I'm pretty sure I've seen chicks at a bar before; it can happen. ;-)
But seriously... If it was a male saying this statement, it would be 'il nono'. The 9th in this statement changes to match the gender and number of the subject.
- 294
Are they talking about the kind of bar in Italy where you get coffee (coffee bar; alcohol is not necessarily served at various 'bar' establishments in European countries) and you have to have some kind of ticket or you get served in a particular order? So is the sentence saying in effect, something like 'I'm ninth in line for coffee at this coffee bar'? (Kind of like bakeries or other places in the US where you take a ticket with a number on it, and when your number is called, it's your turn.) Can an Italian native-speaker clarify where such a sentence would make sense in Italy?
Then How do you say I'm at the ninth bar.. I'm very competitive and am more likely to be in 9th bar than be 9th in the bar..
- 325
- I'm at the ninth bar = io sono al nono bar
- I'm ninth at the bar = io sono il/la nono/a al bar
I do not understand the significance of being ''ninth at the bar'' in either language...
LOLLL I put my answer as: "I am the grandma at the bar." I thought that maybe grandmas use Tinder too?? ^_^ lol
DL! Try to make some useful sentences. There must be more useful examples to learn from!
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Why is it using the feminine form. Does not matter online but it does not accept the masculine As an alternative in the app. Come on Duo needs some TLC to bring it up to scratch
- 227
They can however when you type in an answer using the masculine form in Italian and it marks you wrong then I do have a problem. What is your problem???
- 227
Yes this post. I am the ninth at the bar and in the app it would not accept the masculine only the feminine answer. Since there is no distinction in English it should accept either answer as correct.
- 2612
Ah I see. I've only ever gotten it where it asked me to translate from Italian to English. I've skimmed all the other comments and no one else has raised your issue. So I think perhaps there was another typo in your answer and that it's not about masc/fem.
- 227
I put “sono il nono al bar” which I know is correct. After speaking the language for nearly 70 years and trying to teach my granddaughter I find it frustrating that the app is so limited.
- 2612
Well in all fairness, it's a free app and it's right about 99% of the time. If the other 1% bothers you so much, there are plenty of apps that you can pay for that may have a higher accuracy rate.
