"I eat the dinner."
Translation:Io mangio la cena.
16 Comments
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Amici Italiani: I know that the LITERAL translation is "the dinner", but does this also mean "I'm eating dinner"?
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Don't they mean the same in English? If so, then it can mean that! I am a bit lost, sorry...
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"I'm eating dinner" is what you would say at the time you are actually performing the action of eating. "I eat dinner" (withOUT the "the") is what you would say for a habitual action- for example "I eat dinner at 6 pm" (meaning, EVERY night you eat dinner at 6 pm) or to show that it's something you ALWAYS do. "I eat dinner" means that you DO eat dinner every night- as opposed to someone who may not.
However, it would be hard to come up with a sceanrio where you would say "I eat THE dinner". Possible, but not the usual usage at ALL.
So my question is, IN ITALIAN how would I say "I'm eating dinner" (meaning RIGHT THIS VERY MOMENT I am eating dinner) AND how would I say "every night, I eat dinner at 6 pm"?
Grazie Mille!
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We use the "presente indicativo" both for things we regularly do and for things we do right now.
We can also say "Sto cenando" instead of "Ceno", but "Ceno" is more common.
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You rather say "Faccio colazione" without article.
With dinner, we tend to say "Ceno" (from "cenare")
We don't have a verb that identifies "to have breakfast" in one word (Germans instead have the word frühstücken)
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'Faccio cena', 'faccio pranzo', 'faccio colazione' are in use. More common is 'io ceno', 'io pranzo'. For breakfast it's only 'faccio (fare) colazione'. Around 16, 17 children, and not only, eat something: 'faccio merenda' or 'faccio la merenda'
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I chose "Io mangio la cena", but it says "Mangio la cena" is the correct form. So does that mean that I should always omit the subject when the verb makes it clear who the subject is?
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I think the 'Io mangio' part was correct in your answer. The problem was the 'la' From what I can guess the 'la' shouldn't be used with certain nouns in certain situations. As a new student of Italian, this is CHALLENGING for me to learn and remember!!!! but it's the fun part too.
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I also chose "io mangio la cena" and it accepted it as correct. No comments. But isn't "io mangio cena" also correct?
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"Ceno" should also be available as a correct answer. Possibly "Sto cenando" too.
I recall reading somewhere that the Italian language has no particular word for dinner. So for the English translation of, "I eat the dinner," could I have written "Io mangio il cibo," instead of "la cena," and have been correct?
