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- "Sarebbe meglio se ognuno pen…
"Sarebbe meglio se ognuno pensasse come te."
Translation:It would be best if everyone thought like you.
55 Comments
Meglio (adverb)/Migliore (adjective) = Better Il meglio (noun)/Il migliore (adjective) = Best
Something is not right here. An adverb cannot follow a link verb such as "to be", "to seem" etc. It should be an adjective. When we say, for example, "it would be better", 'better' is an adjective, not an adverb as opposed to 'better' in "I can do it better" where it is an adverb. So either 'meglio' is an adjective, or Italian has a strange syntax.
Dmitry_Arch: 'meglio' is both the comparative & superlative forms of the adverb 'bene' and the invariable comparative form of the adjective 'buono/a'.
1187
"were to think like you" is actual English subjunctive and is still used in English, unlike many other subjunctive forms. I don't understand why Duo doesn't translate subjunctive into subjunctive when it reflects current English usage.
- 1032
It should accept that too, but current English as actually used includes both. Duo takes more of a descriptive than prescriptive approach (as I think it should).
Why not "everyone thinks like you"? Given that its conditional (sarebbe), this could be in the present, right? (i.e. "thinks" instead of "thought")
Thinks is bad english in this sentence. Some english speakers may talk like this, but its not common and doesnt sound good to me
- 105
Why is this reply downvoted? It's absolutely correct: bad English. The reason is that the tenses don't match (past and present cannot be in one sentence like this).
I agree with nayrad above: Present subjunctive in English IS 'thought" not "thinks". E.g "If you thought so, you would go today." "If you went today...; if you ate more vegis,...etc. Present subjunctive in English is based on the past indicative. Use of the present indicative results in what's called an "open" conditional sentence: If he thinks she will quit her job, he will apply for it vs If he thought she would quit her job, he would apply for it. There's a big difference in meaning depending upon whether the present indicative or the subjunctive is used.
an alternative solution given is 'it would be best' but I thought that was migliore?
I've read the posts below and am still confused about 'meglio'. Am I correct in assuming that "sarebbe meglio...' can translate both as 'it would be best' AND 'it would be better'? [Better" was accepted] Would it be context then that would tell me the difference?
It's hard to tell, because "meglio" means both "best" and "better" here.
I guess there is no need to emphasize the difference between "it would be better" and "it would be best", in Italian.
By the way, how would you explain this difference?
In correct English, there is really one option here and that is "better".
The other issues with subjunctive, when to use which tense and mood, is matter of looking at both clauses, the main and the sub. That's how you crack the puzzle.
Indicative present/future: Se ho.....faccio.... Se avrò....farò
Imperfect/conditional Se avessi....farei
Past perfect Se avessi avuto....avrei fatto and here it is considered correct with plain imperfetto: Se avevo...faccevo
I skipped the subjunctive present, but it follows the same rules.
/John
In correct English, there is really one option here and that is "better".
Why?
I had the same thought, @John_Swede, but I have to acknowledge that many people would say equally "better" and "best" there.
Are you a british english speaker? Maybe using "best" is an american english peculiarity.
Nice try, but Americans would not say 'best' for general statements like this one. It's a strange sentence even in Italian. It would be more natural for someone to say 'best' when discussing a specific situation, I think, as they would be offering a solution or recommendation. Simple, general observations of this type are more naturally expressed with 'better' and probably a beer or three.
tregattgrossi: In my mind, "best" is correct or certainly commonly heard in a situation like the above, precisely because it's general. Were the situation more specific and the discussion focused on only 2 options, then in my mind, "better" would be more appropriate.
"It would be better if everybody thought as you" not accepted (Duo wants "... as you do". Reported because in English the "do" can be considered implicit.
I suspect that this is yet another case of DL's being fixated on serious do-do.
ahh,, so the translation would be "sarebbe meglio se TUTTI PENSASSERO come te"? like that?
Yes, that is grammatically correct. I am not a native speaker, so I am not 100% sure that the meanings of the 2 sentences are exactly equivalent. Sounds good to me, though.
"thought the same as you" was rejected. I don't understand why. To me "thought like you" and "thought the same as you" mean the same, the only difference being that the latter occurs more often in a conversation then the former. The reason for that is that the process of thinking is the same for all people and the statement refers to the person's opinion, rather than the process of thinking. So, it seems to me that, in English, at least, "thinks the same" is more appropriate a phrase that "thinks like...".
- 1115
"It would be better if everyone were to think like you" is not accepted
- 1187
Probably not - that makes little if any sense, while using "it" as the subject makes a lot of sense.
No, you'd have two contrasting or contradictory subjects, each referred to by "you" (and how you think): he and everyone and as Jeffrey...has also said, that would make no sense; in my mind it would also be grammatically incorrect for the reason I stated.
Hi kmanl, Grammatically, I cannot see why not; and as for context, "he is obviously being poisoned….it is a 'cospirazione famiglia' to obtain his assets. As you will know by now, we are being trained by Duolingo to become crime writers!
Why is this IMPERFECT subjunctive - where is any sense of the past of whatever nature in the english sentence?
"thought" in the English sentence is in past subjunctive, it is just hard to tell. Past subjunctive is used for unreal conditions, e.g. "If I were rich".
Sorry - thanks - barmy of me - that will teach me to try to push forward my DL in the pub! Have a lingot for your patience and tact.
The subjunctive nature of the English sentence would be more obvious if it were constructed as follows: "It would be better were everyone to think like you".
- 923
Duolingo's suggested answer is now
'It would be better if each 1 thought like you.
Each 1 is never spelt with a 1. also each one refers to individual members of a group. Each one of us has his own hat. Each one of them is responsible.
artluvva: Duo's sentence that I see has "everyone". If 'each one' is used then it's of course normally spelled out, though in informal exchanges on current social media such as Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, etc. it's often/usually abbreviated to "each 1". btw- do you realize that when you wrote out your comment to the effect that "Each 1 is never spelt with a 1," ironically that's precisely what you did. Hmmmn.
- 923
Yes, I was making a point. I make these comments to help Italian speakers who are trying to learn English. Each 1 might cut it on Snapchat but it does not look good on a job application.
why does "meglio" mean better here, but in the sentence "they were better" it was incorrect?
Jo-AnnHan: I don't know the original, but given what you've said, I think it's because here it's an adverb and in the sentence 'they were better" it's an adjective, so you'd see "migliori" or "migliore" depending on gender. .
I think the translation "It would be better if everybody thought as you" is more than adequate
- 268
I wrote." It would be best if everyone thought as you .." and was told that's incorrect?
- 1115
"It would be best if everyone were to think like you" was not accepted.
