"Quanti pezzi di torta mangi?"
Translation:How many pieces of cake do you eat?
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I'm also a native speaker and the sentence sounds fine to me. The grammar is perfectly correct. Now, present tense can also be translated as you probably know as a progressive: "How many pieces of cake are you eating?" but it all depends on context and I'm sure there are a number of scenarios that could warrant questions phrased either way.
Agree! It doesn't seem very natural as a 'stand alone' question...but if I said, "I'm not invited to the birthday because I eat too much cake," and you replied, "How many pieces of cake do you eat?" ...probably preceded by 'Really!!' ....you can see how it works in that context. Italian structure is often quite different to English and therefore you'll find quite a few odd translations...where the grammar is sort of ok, but it just doesn't seem 'natural' in English. Just go with it....and good luck with your language learning.
Ah, sorry about that! I see what you're saying. It makes sense. I also had NO idea about the verb "costare" because I learned it solely as a phrase in my Italian class and I never really thought about it much, but I get it because "costa" on its own would be "(it) costs", right? I was curious, I had a feeling I had some misconceptions lol. Thank you, kind fellow! A lingot for you :D!
I just returned from Puglia region of Italy. Knowing that pieces of cake are "pezzi do torta" I used to ask in the neighborhood supermercato for "pezzi di prosciutto, formaggio, ..." and I always got what I wanted. One day though a lady corrected me saying that I should rather use: "pezze di ..." when meaning thin slices of something. I learned that pezzo is not the same thing as pezza, but I am curious if "pezza" as a slice is commonly used in Italy or it is a regionalism?
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Makes no sense at all in english in present tense. So does it mean how many do you intend to eat or how many have you already eaten or how many are you eating now. Ok I can think of a situation but it sounds like future tense - Q. how many pieces of cake do you eat when you are very hungry?