76 Comments
Am I understanding it correctly: in Italian we write "on"the books not "in" the books? Please help....I am going no where with this lesson
286
In is in, but it's changed to nello, nella etc when it's "in the". It's not ne on it's own
Break it you buy it, destroy it you buy it, scribble all over it and you still buy it. The lessons taught to a four-year-old XD.
Couldn't this also mean "We write HIS books"? or must you always say "i sui libri"? Or would that be "suoi"? Sigh. (I translated it literally b/c I didn't want to lose a precious heart, but it doesn't make a huge amount of sense). Grazie.
"his books" "i suoi libri"
"Scriviamo sui libri" can mean that we open a book and write onto their pages (I have no clue on the right preposition in English) OR that we write about books. I would assume the first one, without any further context.
In that case, the correct English translations would be- 1) We write IN the books 2) We write ABOUT books In English, if you say we write ON the books, it would mean either that we are writing on the COVERS of the books OR that we take a piece of paper and place the paper on the book and then write ON the paper.
elena18, i disagree. at least in the u.s., the meanings could be the same as those described by marziotta. ie, either on the books (for example if we needed a hard surface to write on), or on books (as in we review books, etc).
I wanted to write silly, but auto correct thinks i am rude.... Computer says noooooo
- 1301
Next time this example comes around, try "in" instead of "on." I think it should be accepted.
Where I'm from we write the books. We get the books published. We read the books. BUT WE DON'T WRITE ON THE BOOKS!! :D
The vocabulary hint says "on" not "on the". Should I assume "suoi" means "on the", even though "We write on books" is accepted?
sui (not suoi) definitely means 'on the'. 'On a book ' would be 'su un libro'.
Could that mean (we write about the books)? or we'll have to ad (di) so that it's (Su di libri)?
Su and di can't follow each other, as they are both prepositions. Scriviamo di libri would be correct, I guess, but I'm still learning so I can't be sure.
The sentence i had to translate befoee this one was "Scriviamo su di lei." We write about her. So su and di can follow each other, it just translates as a different word.
It can also mean "we write about the books." I tried that and it was accepted.
Yea I just guessed that it was "We write about the books." and it said it was right. But now I don't know HOW that can be right...
joe.....The preposition 'su' can mean 'about' when speaking... well, when 'speaking/talking/writing/ about' something. Here it's just a contraction of su i libri. At least I think that's the reason.
As a Spanish speaker, too, I'm always confusing those prepositions, as in Spanish would be "nel libro" and in Portuguese "no livro".....so why is it "sui" (su+i) rather than "nei"?
- 1232
in Spanish that would be "en el libro". But in this exmaple I understand "sui", as about+the. "On the books" does not make much sense except this one very specific exmaple that was mentioned in comments before.
hi Elena 18, it could also mean "about" as in " he writes on religion" so he could be book critic writing "on" books.
- 1943
In English it would mean that. I'm not sure it would mean that in Italian.
- 947
Are the writers sitting on a pile of books? Do they use the books as a kind of makeshift table? Or do writers write something on the covers? I think, it's not obvious what happens, whether you read the english or the italian sentence.
Revilo: Without a context it's hard to say, but in both languages 'to write on' can mean to 'write about' and that's I think the most logical interpretation given the lack of a clearer context.
See my comment above. Here I believe the idea is 'we're writing ON a specific topic, that topic being the books...of a particular author, for example or ON the books in a particular series.' 'We're writing ON the first five books of the bible' would be an example. Here 'on' in English is synonymous with 'about' and I believe that 'su' in Italian is the equivalent of both.
I'm confused. How can I tell this is 'We write', not 'They write'? Would that be 'loro scrive'? Sorry for such a silly question, I'm new to this.
Cat98214: The verb form with its suffix -iamo cannot be anything but "we write" ; 'they write' would be 'scrivono'. The form "scrive" is 'he, she, it writes' or "(formal) you write". A good book of verb conjugations will help a lot.
When do you know to say su, sul ,sullo verses saying ne, nel, nello, etc? I'm just a beginner and having trouble with this.
- 1943
Which preposition to use is never clean-cut between languages. Neither in meaning nor in usage. You just need to memorize which preposition is used where.
There are, however, clear rules regarding when to use su vs sul vs sullo and when to use in (not "ne") vs nel vs nello. They are directly related to the use of the definite article.
DEFINITE ARTICLES:
* http://www.oneworlditaliano.com/english/italian-grammar/italian-definite-articles.htm
* https://www.thoughtco.com/italian-definite-articles-4055936
* https://ciaoitaliablog.wordpress.com/classes/italian-definite-article/
ARTICULATED PREPOSITIONS:
* http://www.oneworlditaliano.com/english/italian-grammar/articulated-prepositions-in-italian.htm
* https://www.thoughtco.com/articulated-prepositions-in-italian-4056547
* https://ciaoitaliablog.wordpress.com/classes/italian-preposition-with-definite-article/
* https://www.colanguage.com/italian-articulated-prepositions
christy: Prepositions are tough in most languages since they have both literal and figurative meanings. Basically though 'su' means 'on' combining with the definite article to become e.g. 'sul tavolo'/'on the table', 'sullo zaino'/'on the backpack'. "In' basically means "in" and combines to form e.g. 'nel' / 'in the' so e.g. 'nel museo' /' in the museum'. (Ne is not a prepositonal contraction). "nella" / "nella scuola"/ 'in the school'.Etc.
Examples like this makes me wanna delete my duolingo account. Howc an we remember if from the cases which (almost) never happen in life??
KonstaCamogli: You really need to get over the idea that this site's sole purpose is to provide its users with sentences that can be memorized verbatim and parroted back in real life situations. That's the wrong way to go about learning a foreign language which is all about building vocabulary, learning grammatical structures, verb forms, word order, etc. etc. So even sentences which you feel will never ever be used in real life are beneficial for either teaching or reinforcing these aspects of a language.
Anyone else picturing Indiana Jones destroying the library in Venice while the deaf librarian stamps books?
It's the same, scriviamo sui libri. "On the books" can be read 2 ways.
- 1943
That would be "Scriviamo sui nostri libri" or "Scriviamo su nostri libri".
Glimflick: because it's lacking the definite article & proper possessive: your books would be"i tuoi libri," "i vostri libri" or "i suoi libri" w/ suoi sometimes (mistakenly I believe) capped. The "sui" here is a contraction of the preposition su (on) + the definite article i (the).
You are in kindergarten, or before that, if you are writing on the books. What a silly challenge from DL.
DL's translation of 'writing ON the books' should, as I expressed a month ago, be thought of as 'writing ABOUT the books.' On and about are often used interchangeably which as here can result in ambiguity given the absence of a larger context.
- 1208
Thanks for clarifying. We assumed/guessed that, it was just a tentative on our side to be humorous...
Literary critics and English professors hoping to get tenure! Socialists, Historians, etc. When you say someone's writing "on a particular book" you mean they're writing on a particular topic involving that book. It's said all the time, so drop the wtf comments and think about it a second, assuming that is your attention span's that long.
- 506
No need to insult me. I'm not English, so I don't know every expression. I would probably say 'write about a book', because that's how we say it here. But thanks for explaining anyway, although it could have been said a little bit nicer.
Lets write on books? Wtf? That would never be said rather lets write books would be better
- 1943
Your suggestion means something very different.
If you write a book, that means you are creating a work.
If you write in a book, you are taking an existing book and marking up the pages.
If you write on a book, that can mean two different things. It can mean that you are marking up the cover, or it can mean you are writing about a book, like a review.
