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Why is "il caffe" used.... but then not spoken as "the coffee"? Better yet, when did 'il caffe" become YOUR coffee. Aren't there actual words for Your... like vostro/a ??? tuo? So... why wasn't a YOUR-word used?
Since "il" /the coffee isn't used... could we have just said... Prendi caffe senza... or said it as..... prendi il tuo caffe ??
From the 'i' by the end of 'prendi'. That means you're speaking in the second person of the singular.
I think you could use "il tuo" or "il vostro" in place of the definite article and it would also be correct. In English we wouldn't say "do you take the coffee..." as it seems to mix definite/indefiniteness, and it's important to remember that Italian employs the definite article in places where English doesn't (and vice versa). The most natural English translation to me is "do you take coffee..." but "your coffee" could also work.
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I wrote "Do you take coffee without sugar", which was accepted. I have to disagree with accepting the "your coffee" translation. It may be implied under certain contexts, however its not explicitly stated. Also remember that many times in translating italian to english, the definite article is discarded.
In any case I suppose the "your" is superfluous, because who else's coffee would you take :D
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It is a peculiarity of the English language (as opposed to most other European languages) to use possesive pronouns even then, where from the context it is already clear to whom the thing belongs.
- 893
It is a peculiarity of the English language (as opposed to most other European languages) to use possesive pronouns even then, where from the context it is already clear to whom the thing belongs.
Why "senza zucchero"? why not "senzo"? I thought it was "lo zucchero"... I am really confused when I should write nell', nella, nello, nel, nelle, negli and the rest of prepositions, and I'm completely lost with senz... :(
Nel l' = nell'.........Nel la= nella.......nel lo= nello.........nel le= nelle
There is no contracted form of senza except for senz before the letter "a", and I think that when you refer to something in general, senza is not followed by an article, but if you refer to something specific it is. At least that's how it seems to me if I compare it with the French "sans"
i think either senza or senz' is used. The examples you used up above for nel comes from in (In) with the articles. Coffee without sugar is just without not without the sugar.
Oops, I wrote: Do you have the coffee without sugar? however it was accepted...
I had said "You take coffee without sugar?" not "Do you. . ." and was marked wrong. Is the "do" not understood and therfore necessary?
Can someone please answer this question? Same thing happened to me. It seems “You take coffee without sugar?” is identical to “Do you take coffee without sugar?” This is particularly so that nothing in the hint sentence proceeds “Prendi.”
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Both are grammatically correct (and should be accepted), however it is more common to ask a question in english utilizing inversion and, if the verb isn't an auxiliary verb, "Do" (although, there are loads of exceptions - this is english, after all).
Prendi propably means, not just "take", but "you take". So that's why the translation is: "take your coffee" and not just "take coffee"!
I was confused as to why the question is "without sugar", when surely a more natural sentence in English is "do you take sugar in coffee?"
Come 5 mesi fa continuo a chiedermi : ma non è interrogativa? Non dovrebbe essere : do you take .....?
Is it just assumed that "il caffè" refers to "your coffe" because of context?
Shouldn't it be "do you take your coffee without sugar" since it is a question?
I wrote do you take coffee without sugar and it was incorrect, said it should be 'your coffee', but wouldn't that be 'il tuo caffè'?
Could this not also be a suggestion like 'Shall we get coffee without sugar'?
I was also confused as to the source of 'your'. It might not have been his or her coffee the person was taking. It could have been someone else's coffee.
