"He lives with his parents."

Translation: Abita con i suoi genitori.

[dmmaus]

"coi"? I didn't know "con" could be combined with articles until now!

[Muttley_]

con + il = col; con + lo = collo; con + la = colla; con + i = coi; con + gli = cogli; con + le = colle.
However it's not very common to hear these forms nowadays, and some of them are never used ("collo, colla, cogli, colle"). "con il" and "con i" are the usual forms.

[SinaLewis]

Me neither #soconfused

[mechellnikki]

Me too

[sam891530]

It used to be like that. But it's not used any more. It's wrong.

[NJtheSTQ]

OMG Seriously!!??? I learned "coi" at university, 1980-82, California! jeez, I don't like this at all. Neither do I care for buonasera as one word... :-(

[Muttley_]

coi is perfectly fine: it's in no way out of fashion nor is it wrong. Just not used as much as in the old days.

[Nonna602151]

Okay, David--I tried using "coi suoi genitori" this time. Duo marked it wrong. ???

[NJtheSTQ]

coi suoi genetori or con i suoi genitori

[countvlad]

we learned that the article is not required for close relatives. I guess Italian parents are not considered close relatives. Got docked a heart for that. agghhhhhhhhh!

[ericalridley]

It's not necessarily required for SINGULAR close relatives, but "parents" is plural

[AlexBassis]

Duolingo really should point those rules out.

[BampaOwl]

It does now, in the Tips

[Elena18]

Any difference between "abita" and "vive"? I would think that "vive" would be "lives" in the sense of being alive, and "abita" would be more like "resides"...but they seem to be used interchangeably..?

[mukkapazza]

They are used interchangeably in terms of residence:

• Mia sorella vive/abita in questa casa
• Noi viviamo/abitiamo in città
• Loro vivono/abitano insieme

But if residence is irrelevant then stick to vivere

• Gli squali vivono nell'acqua (Sharks live in water)
• Sto vivendo un momento difficile (I am living/going through a difficult moment)
• Loro vivono felici (They live happily)

[Elena18]

Grazie mille! Always appreciate your help and clear examples.

[PHN04]

I wrote 'Abite con i suoi genitori' and DL marked it right, but interestingly gave 'You have a typo' and 'Vive...' as the correct answer!

[Muttley_]

Duolingo correctly informed you that you have a typo: abita is the correct verb form. 'abite' is wrong.

[NJtheSTQ]

Odd, now I am thinking about this. It's more that English borrows a word, then it comes to mean more than one thing, such as to live - to be alive v to inhabit, from abitare of course. My takeaway is to expand my use of English and use words such as abode and inhabit. :-)

[nanotech18]

I thought that with familiy people, pronouns loose the article - so "i miei genitori" is wrong, you should use "miei genitori" but when I type "lui vive con suoi genitori" it says I should have "i suoi genitori"... Any reason why?

[mukkapazza]

1 family member = no article

2, 3, 4+ family members = keep the article ;)

[kat14981]

with one parent i.e. mio padre, mia madre, you don't use the article, but with parents, grandparents etc in the plural, you use it like this: i miei genitori, i miei nonni, so your sentence would correctly become 'lui vive con i suoi genitori'. sometimes it's best to accept a rule rather than understanding it right away, you learn faster that way. when you've seen it enough times you have a lightbulb moment and understand it.

[judy.scholar]

Why is "i propri genitori" wrong?

[Muttley_]

Because it's not specified that the parents are his own. It could be that he lives with someone else's parents. The English sentence is not clear on purpose and therefore the Italian translation must reflect this.

[theelox]

Does the sentence "Abita con i propri genitori" have the same meaning?

[DonnaSidoti]

This was a screen where you pick the words - Abita was not available to be picked. I do not understand.

[john585666]

In other examples the possessive pronoun in combination with relatives could be deleted in Italian. So I translated "Vive con i genetori." Is that really wrong or just less usual?

[eric.verdi45]

Can someone explain when you need the article (il, i) etc.. sometimes and other times not?

[Gita-ji]

You need it for plural family members, but not single ones—except:
+ You need it for 'loro' family member.
+ You need it for a modified family member, e.g. la mia mamma, la mia sorellini.
+ You need it if an extra adjective is included before the family member, e.g. la mia bella madre.

[Nonna602151]

But why not "...coi (or con i) genitori"? Isn't the possessive often omitted in family sentences like this?

[Muttley_]

It could be someone else's parents: vive coi genitori della sua ragazza -> vive coi suoi genitori.
But you have a point.
In general, Italian doesn't use the possessive extensively as English does: 'he brushes his teeth' -> si lava i denti; 'I touch my head' -> mi tocco la testa...
Both vive coi genitori and vive coi suoi gentiori are OK. However, I think the most common expression would be vive con i/coi suoi, leaving genitori out of the sentence altogether.

[Ronald966424]

Why is this answer different to what i was marked wrong for also Abita was not given as a word choice