"Tu indichi col dito."
Translation:You point with your finger.
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Doesn't this sentence mean: You point with the finger.
Where does it mean with YOUR finger?
That is indeed the word by word translation, - but.
In Italian you normally leave out the possessive of body parts, wallets etcetera when it is obvious who they belong to, - and I guess it would be strange if "you" was pointing with somebody else's finger.
In English we do something similar when we leave the partitive implied. We may e.g. say "Do you have cigarettes?" leaving any implied. In Italian the partitive should normally not be omitted, "Hai delle sigarette?
Yes, but if I wanted to say "you point with the finger" meaning the severed finger you found somewhere that you keep in your pocket, wouldn't that also be "tu indichi col dito"? ;-)
It's all down to context but the default when you refer to a body part or an object you would normally wear or carry is to assume it belongs to the person that is the subject of the phrase.
Col = con + il. Con is just con. If the determinative article is necessary, you can use col but it isn't mandatory and con il works fine as well. Col is just shorter and sometimes sounds better.
I'm a bit puzzled. Dito is masculine, but the plural dita seems to be feminine. Am I right? Or have I misinterpreted DL's guidance?
- il dito = the finger
- le dita = the set of fingers of a hand
- i diti = fingers in general (- you might e.g. refer to the fingers of a group of people pointing at someone or something as "i diti puntati")
