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- "Scriviamo sui libri."
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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
How do you say "Hope the librarian doesn't find out!" In Italian?
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).
Seems to me that marziotta and elena18 are saying exactly the same thing. Many thanks for the clarification!
1888
Next time this example comes around, try "in" instead of "on." I think it should be accepted.
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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)?
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"?
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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.
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.
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.
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.
It's the same, scriviamo sui libri. "On the books" can be read 2 ways.
That would be "Scriviamo sui nostri libri" or "Scriviamo su nostri libri".
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Help!!! There seems to be about a million words for "on the" "in the" "at the" "from the" Are they all interchangeable or something?
No, they are not interchangeable.
The root of all of them is which form of "the" you need to use.
Rules for the definite article:
https://i.imgur.com/aJ7Qlgb.jpg
Then they fuse together with the various prepositions:
https://i.imgur.com/1Uh64MZ.png
https://www.thoughtco.com/articulated-prepositions-in-italian-4056547
http://www.oneworlditaliano.com/english/italian-grammar/articulated-prepositions-in-italian.htm
The "i" is already there, as part of the "sui". Look at the comment above yours for a chart of how the prepositions fuse with the definite articles.
