"Io non ho la mucca, ho il cuoio."
Translation:I do not have the cow, I have the leather.
138 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
This sentence makes me sad. I will probably still eat beef, but I will be sad about it. Making me think, duolingo, making me think.
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"I weep for you," the Walrus said: / "I deeply sympathize." / With sobs and tears he sorted out / Those of the largest size, / Holding his pocket-handkerchief / Before his streaming eyes.<< / :-)
How can you tell the different between ho and O as in 'or'? I don't have the cow or the leather...
But can you tell, from the sound, the difference between 'to', 'too', or 'two'? Or, more relevantly, 'oar' from 'or'? It's confusing, but eventually people learn to distinguish from context.
Incidentally, Italians have a really hard time pronouncing 'h', and so typically do so silently: the words 'and' and 'hand' become indistinguishable!
both or and have make sense in the sentence, so you can't tell from context in this case
It depends on the speaker, I'd say. I know people where it is really easy to tell the difference between 'to', 'too' and 'two', but this might also be the result of the years we've known one another. The 'w' sound is absent in both of the first words, after all.
'Or' and 'Oar' should sound different, what with the 'oa' sound being slightly longer and changing, but again, it depends on the speaker.
That's really interesting to hear. In my fairly standard English accent, there's no difference between "or" and "oar".
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you are exactly right. in the US midwest there would be no discernable difference, at all, ever, under any circumstances. there's a reason that duowl accepts 'i don't have the cow or the leather.", because there is no difference in the standard pronunciation. this situation arises for duowl in french between singular and plural subject/verb combinations, too. probably in other languages also.
I have not yet met an Italian who can differentiate between spoken "walk" and "work". But they immediately hear the double vowels that I find so difficult to hear in Italian.
The japanese also have little discrimination in speech between "r" and "l"...
If they wanted to say they had neither, I don't think they would say it like that. It would probably be something closer to 'I neither have the cow nor the leather'. Possibly 'Io non ho la mucca né il cuoio'.
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nonsense. who is 'they'? can you read the minds of nonexistent people. there are several ways that you could say they didn't have either, and all would be valid. (possibly--"Non ho né la mucca né il cuoio.") (possibly--"Io non ho la mucca o il cuoio.")
I would assume in ambiguous cases one would say "io ho" rather than just "ho."
When spoken, you would need to speak emphatically on "ho" to infer the dropped "io". Try saying and listening to where the emphasis is with "Io ho il cuoio" and then with "Ho il cuoio"
In five years I will tell my psychiatrist that my depression stems from this statement. Thanks Duolingo.
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Can't. Stop. Laughing! I'm glad to know I wasn't the only one creeped out by this sentence.
Not that I know, it sounds like philosophical. We are in the new era, we don't own animals, but their products...
Yeah, these sentences are starting to make less and less sense. Sometimes I seriously don't know if there is some other meanig that i'm missing, or if the sentence is just supposed to be so... absurd
the author may be a Monty Pyton fan or perhaps a conflicted vegetarian. On the other hand it could be an idiom e.g."I do not have the cow, i have the leather" would be something we could say in Milan at a fashion show. But what about other sentences I've learned like "The knife is in the boot" (I 'll try it in Naples?) or "The tiger eats the butterfly" (something poetic to say while strolling by Circus Maximus).
It sounds like words of wisdom: "I don't need to own the whole factory, just the product". Or how about "I don't have the railway, I have the ticket". Anyone else like to play along?
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I don't mind the lack of sense in duolingo. It just teaches you the construction of the language which is fine
I don't care that moo cow is childish; it makes a great mnemonic for remembering what 'una mucca' is.
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The word mucca actually is the Italian version of 'moo cow', and it became the normal word for 'cow'. (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mucca)
Anyone see something sinister in this??? Who put this guy in charge of the cow in the first place?
I think duolingo is trying to teach us sentence structure while also trying to construct more complex sentences with the words we already know.
It may not be an idiom, but it ought to be. Something like "only own the stuff you're actually going to use."
We owned animals and after we skinned the animal we had THE hide; so I thought that would be a correct answer.
Cows are girls. The good news is that generally one eats the castrated males. Removing the bullocks, so-to-speak.
This could have been said by some of our early ancestors dividing the spoils of a kill or by a very severe restaurant critic?
Why is "I haven't the cow" wrong? For duolingo the right version is "I haven't got the cow" but what is the differences between this two versions? I'm Italian native and I hope in your help
Fabio149: In my mind your answer is correct and should be accepted. It does sound slightly more formal or "educated" but I see nothing wrong with it. Where you might hear that construction is in the phrase: "I haven't the slightest idea" which is the same as saying "I haven't got the slightest idea."
Yes, it's true what you've wrote! But i don't understand why duolinguo don't accept both versions. For me is an error! Correct me if I'm wrong. So, thank you very much for the answer.
Fabio149. The only thing you can do is report it to them and hope they allow for it in the future.
Mmm, I'm not sure but I think that I found the answer to my question. For duolingo the two possibilities are "I don't have the cow" or "I haven't got the cow" because you can use "I haven't" only when it's followed by a verb (past participle).I think is the right motivation!
"the translation by DL " I've the leather " sounds very unnatural. I would suggest "I have the leather " in this case.
Can this be translated, "I don't have the cow, I have its leather."
"I do not have the cow, I have the leather." I think it must have slipped out of it. Am sure it will come back.
It is. I just checked.
(You'd have to remember the apostrophe, obviously.)
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Let me think...
You had a cow, the cow died, you had to scrap the meat but could keep the leather. A friend calls you and asks about the cow; you use this sentence to open up the conversation about your misfortunes.
Or: Playing a game when various players have various (limited) resources, one being a cow and one being a leather, plus others. It could be either a trading game (you have to collect certain resources by trading with others) or a guessing game (you have to guess the resource someone has based on some clues). Now I want to play the trading game and I don't even know the rules. :(
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I misspelled cuoio and was marked wrong, usually if it's close that mark as correct and tell you that you misspelled the word
Lenny: I think with the article "la" you'd need to include it in English, "cow" is not one of those abstract or geneneric nouns where you'd drop the article in the English: Il tempo/time, Il vino/wine, etc. Here it's quite specific, "I don't have THE cow..."
Could you have some kind of a skip button on the web version and not just the iOS app? People have no mics cannot finish this exercise
My translation was, '' I don't have the cow, I have the hide'' which doesn't make sense
chrisye1: It doesn't have to make sense. You're learning/practicing word order, verb conjugation, maybe learning new nouns, etc. Does Dr. Seuss make sense, Ogden Nash? Allen Ginsberg? Dylan? Get over the idea that these sentences have to make sense.
It does make sense! It's pretty clear what it means literally: the hide: you have it, the cow: you don't. That's all you need to know to use this phrase to learn Italian.
Metaphorically, it seems to me that it's talking about having the finished product, not just the means. The emphasis could be on the lack of means, or the possession of the finished product.
...or, as boldsirrobin says, it could be about only having the stuff you need.
Perfectly correct alternative to say "I haven't" instead of "I do not have". We would probably say "I haven't got".
We're not here to learn sentences, we're here to learn vocab and grammar. This sentence has useful vocab in it, and is an example of a correctly formed Italian sentence.
Duolingo isn't a phrasebook - if you want to learn some specific sentences you can use in Italy, google for "Italian phrasebook".
This sentence mske me bit dout because second part "ho il cuoio " but it doesn't say I have please explain me Thanks
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''i dont own the cow, i own the leather'' -- marked as incorrect. isnt 'owning' and 'having' the same as 'ho'?
No! Having and owning are not the same! I could certainly have something I don't own. "I have your car keys", "If you're looking for your glasses, I have them". See? I could say, "I have an apartment", but that doesn't mean I own it. I could be renting...
This seems like it may be a good insult. Like in english, a woman would advise her friend 'He won't buy the cow, if he's getting the milk for free.' Is this similar?
This sounds like it is the English equivalent to "Why buy the cow when you're getting the milk for free?" Or "He won't buy the cow, when he's getting the milk for free."
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Sharon44798. A cow, just so you know, is always female. A bull, or if castrated, a steer would indicate a male.
I put in hide instead of leather and it dinged me. They give hide as an alternative meaning so that doesn't make sense. Either way a disturbing sentence.
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I wrote "I don't have" instead of "I do not have" and it was marked as incorrect, why? They are the same thing and the abbreviated form has been accepted in other sentences. Odd.
Huh? Isn't Italian leather a big deal in fashion and shoes? That hardly indicates a heavy emphasis on animal rights!
Sometimes the playback sounds different than what is heard. For instance, I heard, I do not thave the cow "or" the leather. Both"o" and "ho" sound the same. Based on the way the sentence was pronounced, I went with "o".
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I heard o for ho and thought the sentence still made sense. Those o's and ho's are tricky!
Some is surely writing a novel, just to get this line into it. Me, i see it as a "make the best of a bad job" but yes, tinged with loss ...
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This would not be a common way to express in English, It would sound 'awkward'. You would say, I dont have a cow I'm using leather