145 Comments
Why the plural of "uomo" is "uomini" not just "uomi"? Is it another rule which is not mentioned here or it's just an exception?
It comes from Latin! Homo in Latin means human, and the plural is homin-es. Long live Latin!
It will live long. Along with Greek, it is both in science and our modern English today.
Most languages have some kind of root in latin, especially european languages :)
uova( Uovo masculine singular, this is one of those exceptions to the general rules.)
Its hailarious how the word "uomini" sounds like the word "wo-men" in english xD
The n is not sounded on the audio. Pronunciation did nkt accept my audio without the "n" sound. With the "n" spoken in "uamini" it accepted it. Again, the same problem in French. Great Duo program but 0 reliable audio.
The n is not unspoken, its just very soft. When you speak italian some letters might not be pronounced because if you are fluent you tend to go a little fast not spell them perfectly. But i swear to you that i have never prnounced uomini without an n on purpose
Couldn't "loro" also be the polite form for "you" (plural)? If so, Duolingo should pass this translation as correct...
you're absolutely right, but I guess noone uses formal language just to say that someone is men ;) so from the context you can read that it has to be "they"
If you add a subject (but remove the pronoun) you may be able to find out what the pronoun is in translation, for example: "Sono uomini." Since "uomini" is plural for "uomo" (man) you can tell it's in the third-person plural form ("We are men" would be "Noi siamo uomini").
"Uomini" isn't the subject, but rather the predicate of the above-mentioned sentence. Linguistically, "Io" (first person, singular) and "loro" (third person, plural) should not share the same form of the verb "to be" "sono."
You need to conjugate the verb according to the subject: http://italian.about.com/library/verb/blverb_essere.htm
From my perspective, you should use siamo when it comes after Noi and use sono when Loro. "Noi siamo" "Loro sono."
Io and Loro(first and third person singular and plural respectively) sono, noi siamo*.
"Loro sono gli uomini" would mean "they are the men." Here, "uomini" is the predicate of the sentence (the sentence only indicates that they are men), following the copula "sono," so the article is optional, depending on whether or not the specification is intended.
It could be the case, but "loro sono essere umani" is more apropriate and more used than uomini.
Is it just me? I cant seem to do the speaking parts, it says wrong even if I say the words, some help would be much appreciated.
If "sono" is in conjunction with "they" in " (they)are" . And "Loro" is a singular word for "they", then why can't "Sono" just mean "They're" in english? Why break up one sheet into two words and make them gendered?
I click on the microphone, say it in Italian, and translate it into English, but it won't then "continue" . so I finally give up and press "skip." What am I doing wrong? (This is a computer issue, not a language issue).
Im confused with the word,"sono" and the word,"siomo." Are they the same thing?
why's "loro" sentences here in possess? they dont show example of something belong to 'them'.. or i didn't get this right?
Loro is a pronoun. It's not possessive. They are just the subject of the sentence.
The lesson is called Possessives and this sentence is in that lesson. I think that is what he meant.
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siamo is used for "we are" (noi siamo) ...... sono is used for "I am" and "they are" (io sono, loro sono)
When I can know that I should for example say "io sono" and not "Io sono" I want to understand when I should make it a capital letter and why...
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It'Same thing, unless you mean io and Lo. -- io means I, and Lo means the (if word after is)>> masculine, singlular, begins with s+consonant, or z
Siamo means "we are" (Noi siamo). Sono has two meanings:
The first is "I am" (Io sono), the second is "They are" (Loro sono).
There's also something in Italian called formality and informality, which utilizes "sono" a little, but I wouldn't worry about that right now.
Shouldn't the sentence read 'loro somo' instead of 'loro sono'? The conjugation chart matches loro and somo together not loro and sono.
So does uomo/uomini only apply to the masculine? Is there a feminine conjugation? Also would uomo/uomini be considered formal or no? We never learned or used it in my italian class, so i just wanted to be sure of the context ^^;
Despues q sincronice mi cuenta con FB el idioma base es ingles como rayos lo cambio a espanol, me ayudas?
Why can't you say lori siamo uomini? I thought siamo was "are" but I think I am getting confused..
Italian look a little like portuguese sometimes, some words looks like eatchother :)
How should I know it's they are men not they are people as there are no articles to indicate gender?
The best translation for "people" is "gente".
I don't get what's your problem in not having articles in this sentence, could you please specify better your problem?
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One can also use "la persona" - "le persone". And though the word itself is a feminine, it can refer to both men and women, just like "a person" would.
