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- "I cani dei ragazzi bevono ac…
86 Comments
98
The apostrophe should come after the 's' (the boys' dogs) because they are talking about boys plural - dei ragazzi.
537
You'd put the apostrophe before the s if there was only one boy. i.e. "the boy's dogs". But because there are multiple boys, the possessive is boys'.
98
Exactly! Happened to me, too, in January 2017. I've reported it yet again but they've obviously got no intention of correcting this embarrassing mistake.
It would... But you can call even an young adult "ragazzo", it is a word that is bit unespecific - so if you really wish to say "child" in italian is better to use "bambino - bambina". Anyway, yes, it is a correct translation.
537
You are right. It should be "the boys' dogs" (because boys is plural). If you see it again, report it.
Guys, my father clarified the matter for me this word works like this:
male dog - cane, pl. cani female dog - cagna, pl. cagne
it is probably an insult in many languages, but in romance languages is actually important to point the sex of the animal "Io ho un cani" "Io hon una cagna" - I suppose. So you can say it in a context that is not insulting.
537
delle (of the) = di (of) + le (the) used with plural feminine nouns
dei (of the) = di (of) + i (the) used with plural masculine nouns (other than those beginning with z, s+ consonant, etc.)
Dog is a weird word in italian... If "cane" is the singular form of a male dog, how do I say "female dog"? I mean, isn't the "e" the female plural form? I'm confused.
They STILL have not corrected the answer. It SHOULD be "The boys' dogs..." or there should be another "the" button to select to say "The dogs of the boys...". The second choice is awkward in English but not incorrect. There are tons of comments in this discussion from many years ago, but it is still not corrected as of June 2019!!! I reported it today again, 16 June 2019.
260
It's still not corrected. I reported it as wrong because the right answer cannot be given since there is no ¨[boys'] as an option.
291
It's "the boy's dogs..." not "the boys' dogs..." Possession in this case, because the word "boy" does not contain an "s" in singular, should have the apostrophe before the "s" and not after.
Why isn't the "'"(apostrophe) mark BEFORE the S in "boys'" ??? Possession is shown with an apostrophe BEFORE the S - non gender specific - Used to show ANYthing's "possession" of something - Get It?.... "anything's" - It seems like I keep getting questions wrong on duolingo, because I write my American English translations with the apostrophe located previous to the S - to show possession or to act in the same way of L'italiano "è " - as in, using it like "It's," ie: to show possession or, belonging to NEVER do you put a singular apostrophe AFTER the S to show possession - UNLESS "S" is the Last Letter, ie: you wouldn't write "the Jones's" - it would written as " the Jones' ", implying the 'possessive " 's " when speaking, but never writing an s with a " 's " - all other things use the " 's "(the apostrophe before the s) to show possesion of something. That being said....... lol...... I believe it literally translates into American English as : " The dogs of the boys drink water" However, what it really MEANS is: "The Boy's ('s=possession, belonging to) Dogs (cani-where "i" =multiple) and using "dei" implies possession)drink water (bevono acqua) where the "ono" implies that there are multiples are drinking- SO- in conclusion, SHOULDN'T " The boy's dogs drink water" be a correct answer?
Lol -jeez - duh, I get it now - a neuron just fired - i guess if i had LISTENED to myself, and read just exactly what I was actually writing was correct! It was just that I had the ANSWER WRONG to begin with - it's taken me 10 days to get to level 8 and keep everything current too, so my brain plays wicked games on me sometimes- lol