85 Comments
I'm starting to think that duolingo is trying to get me admitted into an italien mental facility.
You were, but you have mutated into a turtle, as have I. I must say I think I preferred being a butterfly. Heaven only knows what we'll turn into next! It makes me grateful that I don't believe in re-incarnation. When I come back it will be as a man! I hope. lol
No, but blondes do right? (All my blonde friends deny this but I think its only because I'm a brunette.)
the pronounciation is wrong. the accent is on the U and not on the second A, tartarùga
I really object to strange sayings like this. When would I need to say "I am a turtle"?
When you are learning a new language and vocabulary. Imaging silly scenarios is a standard memory technique that make it easier to learn.
Also think of the limited number of words we know at this stage and try to imagine repeating the same boring sentences without these quirky ones! There's a limited amount they can do at this stage.
Fancy dress
When attempting to convince the draft that you're insane
After an insane scientist decides to turn you into a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle
If you join an obscure sect that worships turtles and whose followers are known as turtles.
That's what phrasebooks are for. They do it this way so that you actually learn the language, instead of phrases like "where is the elevator?".
The idea is to familiarise you with the way the language works. Surely it can't hurt to throw in a little humour?
Oh, and also, it's free.
"I would like to feed your fingertips to the wolverines. We are out of badgers." ESL by SNL
I like that they use quirky phrases. For one thing it makes learning fun. And also it means that you have to think about the language and not just answer by rote. This way you actually learn the language... you learn sentence structure. Once you learn how the language works you can then replace the nonsensical ones with sensical ones.
It could be have actually been used by the sixties pop band The Turtles (hit: in Italian "Siamo Felice Insieme " or something like that). As a senior person, I like these mad random statements as they help the memory!
next time I'll visit italy I'll just run there screaming that sono una tartaruga
I agree with those who think that it is fun to have these quirky sentences. I also agree with those who suggest Duolingo give us more realistic sentences, actually to possibly be used in a normal daily conversation.
This is an Owl talking.
2016 choose your race. 2017 choose your gender. 2018 choose your species. Anyone want to guess what 2019 will bring?
Finally! Learning italian all this time as an impoverished, prejudiced-against reptile and never have I come across a sentence I can actually say proudly! SONO UNA TARTARUGA! Thank you, duolingo!
978
ParisJDar, una is used here as an indefinite article (a, and here it is una because tartaruga is feminine), and uno/una is also used as the number one. English also does that; we can say for eg a book or one book or in this case a turtle or one turtle, and we can use one to count.
when can you tell if it means I am or they are? because isn't it io sono and lio sono?
Sono is indeed the conjugation of the verb essere for both Io and Loro, but when it means I am a... the noun that follows should logically be singular, because I am one person (also the indefinite article also indicates that it is singular), and when it means they are... the noun should logically be plural
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Even if there are many sentences here that don't make much sense... this one, for a turtle lover, does :D
Yeah everytime i see something like these i got to come to the comments
Because "turtle" is singular and "they" is for plural, you can't use singular with plural
Good reply. Just remember 'io sono ' is 'I am' 'Loro sono' is they are. If it were third person plural It would need to be (loro) sono tartaruge.or sono delle tartaruge. It is a feature in Italian that is rather marvellous. You know 'una ' is singular and feminine, therefore tartaruga is singular and feminine, and that there can only be one person being one.
No, I Am a Cat. Bonus points if any native English speaker recognizes the reference.
I love this word... it's my favourite word so for... along with balena. As long as Duo doesn't tell me "Io sono balena." I might get offended ;-)
