"Hanno nove figli ed una nipote."

Translation: They have nine children and one granddaughter.

[Koolkaren]

How do you tell the difference between 'niece or nephew' and 'granddaughter or grandson'? Is it simply context?

[marziotta]

Yes. Here it could be niece as well.

[Koolkaren]

Thanks! :)

[CalBR]

Did you get any useful answer? I didn't.

[jwyvp]

ed vs e:
It says here that the difference is mainly personal preference. But does ed sound more educated/sophisticated, whereas e sounds more natural?
I know they both mean the same thing, but what kind of mood are they conveying by using one over the other?

native speakers: what do you think?

[rey.del.mundo]

I'm not a native speaker, but I do recall seeing on here that "ed" is usually preferred when the letters preceding it and following it are vowels. "...figli ed una...," "lui ed io," "ieri ed oggi," etc.

[Ariaflame]

Especially when the preceding and following vowels are the same. Other than that it's apparently 'when it sounds better'.

[ScoutsManyZZZ]

How come the question came already complete and right? This happen to anyone else?

[CecilieO.]

Isn't '"grandchild" a possible translation of nipote?

[Ariaflame]

Possibly, but having it be una nipote means granddaughter or niece since una indicates that the noun is feminine.

[CecilieO.]

ah, I didn't notice the una. Thank you for pointing it out.

[Sharon520329]

This is odd that granddaughter and niece are the same word. Does it have a literal meaning like familial child of the second generation?

[Fekkezaum]

How can you tell from the audio it's "figli ed" and not "figlie ed"? (the latter wasn't accepted)

[AndrBallon]

nepotism derives from the word nipote.

[Elena75121]

I wrote "nephew", but Duolingo doesn't accept.

[AdamBierma]

Me too. And my nephew is very concerned about what the future might hold for him.

[maz1269]

notice the "una"

[Helen525464]

I went for niece. Wrong apparently.

[maz1269]

it's correct tho

[Stella519409]

What's wrong with nine sons and a niece?