- Forum >
- Topic: Italian >
- "L'uovo non è sul piatto."
38 Comments
"nel" would be fare way more common, please report that "L'uovo non è nel piatto" would make more sense, even if "sul piatto" is not totally wrong.
Wouldn't "sul" be more appropriate here because it means "on the" while "nel" means "in the"?
1632
I am surprised to see this. In later sections it is always "in". When it comes to food and dishes Italians always put it "in"
I've heard two explanations. 1. Piatto can also be what we'd call a "dish" in Britain - a deep plate, e.g. for pasta - hence "in" for deep and "su" for flat. 2. "su" implies sitting or lying on - "upon" in English - and hence is correct when the plate is upside down (!) whereas "in" is not.
I like the "upon" vs. "on" distinction. Could an Italian native comment please?
[Edit] The guardians of the language (Accademia della Crusca) mention disporre, mettere, adagiare, posizionare nel/sul piatto, implying they are interchangeable when talking about physical placement. Duo shouldn't be rejecting either in that context. However, piatto also means "dish" in the culinary sense, in which context only nel and "in" are correct, and "plate" is wrong unless qualified (e.g. "a plate of chips").
i am not a native italian speaker, but su as upon and nel in/on makes sense.
ciao. the connection between articolo determinativo and 'su' : il-sul ; i-sui ; la/l'-sulla/sull' ; le-sulle ; lo/l'-sullo/sull' ; gli-sugli hope this helps.
If it is not on the plate, then is it under the hen? Or maybe did the poor egg fall of the wall?
Perhaps someone can help me? I have received comments in emails but can't seem to figure out how to reply to them on this site.
I only get emails from Duolingo. If I click on the "View Discussion" button, it takes me to the relevant discussion page and comment, where I can post a reply. As here. We do not have access to each other's email addresses.
ciao. the connection between articolo determinativo and 'su' : il-sul ; i-sui ; la/l'-sulla/sull' ; le-sulle ; lo/l'-sullo/sull' ; gli-sugli hope this helps.
What is the actual difference in this case between nel and sul? Can we use both forms?
I'm trying to understand the use of "su" vs "sul"
so is this sentence correct "L'uovo non è su un piatto"?
Grammatically correct, if a little ugly, but it means "... on a plate", not ".... on the plate". So wrong in this instance.
In a previous exercise, a food item was "nel piatto". Is there a difference?
- 1179
This is the second time in Level 4 of Prepositions that I have seen 'sul piatto' whereas in all previous sections including Food and Food 2 it has always, always been 'nel piatto'. Comments from native Italians also say it should be 'nel piatto' so I will report it but I would similarly love to know why it has changed here. Maybe there is something I am missing.
