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- "Lei è piccola ed io sono gra…
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Besides the pun, I'm italian and can't think of a single case where "grande" could be translated as "hard" o.O
Hey......i need help from an italian...like someone to practice with what i have learnt....
Hey Cynthia,
You could try signing up on https://www.conversationexchange.com i found a native to practice with but beware because some guys are there for their own perverted reasons! Auguri.
Since this exercise is in the lesson for measurements, shouldn't the default translation be either "short"/"tall" or "small"/"big" instead of "young"/"old"?
I agree. It is perfectly normal in english to say big and little in reference to age. This is most evident when referring to siblings. "My big brother" or "my little sister"
Aunts and so forth regularly say to nephews/nieces/grandchildren. "My what a big boy/girl" you are, or "Aren't you getting big" referring not to fatness but indicating that they have grown in height and age.
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Why not? I find it extremely useful to read the (sometimes very qualified) coments and compare languages.
I agree. I've never seen "piccolo/piccolo" and "grande/grandi" used as young and old. I think if it's going to have more than one meaning, there should be a note on the page in reference to these words so that they tell us ALL the meanings. Otherwise, it's like we're all being ambused.
The same in Spanish, when little boys are growing up they say: Yo soy grande y él es pequeño - I am big and he is small. But they are saying they are older
Does not apply to Portuguese at all... When a boy says that he is getting "big" is because he is getting bigger, nor older... Get bigger is a consequence of get older... For child sake...
this applies to Romanian too , another romance language : He is small and she is big .( El e mic si ea e mare )
No literally, but one can deduce that (very) young people are small, and old(er) people are big(ger).
Not sure, but I think that the best meaning of "piccola" and "grande" here are small and big, not young and old.
... Literally you are right, but in context you state more often such a sentence in term of age, it is a pretty childish sentence.
If your solution is not accepted, please report it.
Duo is accepting my solution, I just commented that because the default solution is young and old and for me it didn't sound like you would really use this sentence in a conversation to say "she is young and I'm old", but thanks for clarifying that
In Spanish, we use pequena (piccola) in different forms. It can refer to somebody small in height, young in age, or a small amount of something. The same thing with grande (grande); tall, big, old. I believe that Italians use it in the same way.
Not only childish. I think it's also a more poetic and creative way of writing it that may be used in fiction or poetry. But, yes, sounds like it's from a child's point of view.
That's exactly what I've put, and it said I'm wrong. Sod it then, who am I to argue with this free app which is helping me out haha Good job there are comments now with the lessons.
What would be a better way to say "young and old"? vechio...& ? Io sono piu vechia/o di mia sorella? Vero? Grazie?
vecchio: old, giovane: young. so lei e vecchia ed io sono giovane would be more apt that what they are suggesting
I would've used vecchia/o and giovane, since those are more appropriate choices.
I'm tripping over when to use "e" versus "ed" for the word "and." Anyone have a basic rule of thumb?
Mostly use 'ed' when the 'and' is between two vowels that are the same. For when it is between two vowels that are not the same I'm afraid that the rule is 'when it sounds better'
Heard Roman man shout to his friend "Sta qua! Sta qui!" Qui is the "correct"Italian, but the rhyme of "Sta qua" is euphonious. Donald Duck's nephews in Italian comic book are Qui, Qua and Quo
This isn't a basic rule, but I think it helps:
E and ed
There are two words for "and" in Italian: e and ed. Replacing the more common e with ed is greatly dictated by personal preference. Rule of thumb: use it when the surrounding vowels are the same, e.g. scimmie ed elefanti.
source: Dualingo
I still try to find out whether the adjective "grande" has male and female forms... but I can't read http://www.wordreference.com/definizione/grande yet :-(
Is "grande" for male written the same as "grande" for female?
Yes, it is the same for both genders. Look, for example in http://www.wordreference.com/definizione/rosso or http://www.wordreference.com/definizione/piccolo .
In all of them, after the definitions you have "Forme flesse di..." and it gives you the possible variations. For rosso you have rossa, rossi, rosse, and for piccolo you have piccola, piccoli, piccole. For grande its just grande, grandi.
Wow, down there it is!
Paradoja, thank you for teaching me how to use that website!!
A correct translation could be "She is short and I am tall", right? I think it is referring to height :S.
I wrote "she is young and I am large" and they accepted it. Stupido!
If the second word begin with a (omg, idk how are named "a, e, i, o, u"), you should use "ed", in the other case, you should use "e". In some cases, there are exceptions. Like in poems(?), etc..
E and ed
There are two words for "and" in Italian: e and ed. Replacing the more common e with ed is greatly dictated by personal preference. Rule of thumb: use it when the surrounding vowels are the same, e.g. Scimmie ed elefanti.
Source: Duolingo
Any spanish speakers you there? Can i say, "ella es pequeño y yo soy grande" and it would mean young/old? Just wondering, i know not many latinos are around here
Yes, in Spanish it can mean that, but, as apparently in Italian too, it would be something said by children. By the way, "ella es pequeñA y yo soy grande".
Piccolo is the masculine singular, and piccola is the feminine singular.
Ex: Lui è piccolo. Lei è piccola.
When 'e' is followed by a vowel, it turns into 'ed' in order to make the two words clearly different. Otherwise you'd get something sounding like 'eyio'.
Do they really use the exact same phrase to mean both "She is young and I am old." AND "She is small and I am large." ?? (I put in small/large and it said it was correct.)
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yes, because "piccola" can be used in the sense of "small girl" and "grande" in the sense of "big girl/boy"
Old is indeed vecchio, but grande can be used to mean old (or older) in a similar sense to the way that a lot of English speakers refer to their elder sibling as a 'big brother' or 'big sister' and their younger siblings as 'little brother' and 'little sister'. Even if the genetic lottery has the actual size discrepancy not being that big or one of them overtaking the other.
Hey, Italians, what is the most common word for 'old', as in a person being old? Surely grande is not the best word...
Hey, foreigner! "Grande" is how children call the adults... The most common translation for 'old' (like a 70 years old person) is vecchio. It would be disrespectful, though, if you told an old person "sei vecchio": a nicer and more formal word is anziano.
Yep, it depends on context; but in this case, generally, there are all the means.
So are these two words generally used for small and big? And if so, are there other words for young and old, or are the two used interchangeably?
wouldn't this phrase be " she is small and i am big? young should be giovani and old is vecchio or am i wrong?
It's an idiomatic usage, similar to the way many people in English refer to their elder siblings as 'big brother' or 'big sister' and younger siblings as 'little brother' or 'little sister'
They might not be in the hints, but the hints are not aware of context and are not to be fully trusted. In this context piccola and grande can mean young and old without the individual words meaning that all the time. As one of the options for translating this phrase.
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after all these years I finally understand what the name of that instrument actually means!
Before words beginning with a vowel (a,e,i,o,u), use 'ed' - thus 'ed io', 'ed una', etc. Before words beginning with a consonant, use 'e'.
I think duolingo should give access to a pronunciation button on eveey screen... And also ... Simple helps me learn better versus having to type every word ... It becomes fristrating and tedious
Why did they translate "piccola" into little instead of small. Or are there certain Language exceptions?
I think 'piccola' can be used for either word. I think this is a child's phrase, as in 'I'm a big boy now but she's still little'. 'Small' should still be correct.
The word for tall is "alto", the word for big/large is "grande". I don't agree that "I am tall" would sounds more correct... if so, the sentence would have begun, "Lei è bassa ... " [feminine "short", as in height]. In English, little and small have the same meaning, but if you talk about height you would normally say "short" instead of "little", especially if you are then comparing them to a tall person. It would not sound right to say "She is little, he is tall". Does that make sense?
I wrote "she is small and i am big" DL didn't accept "small" for an answer!?
