"I write my family's surname."
Translation:Scrivo il cognome della mia famiglia.
20 Comments
You only drop the article when referring to a SINGLE MEMBER of your family (e.g. my brother = mio fratello, my brothers = i miei fratelli). La famiglia is singular, but it doesn't refer to a single person, so you need the article.
Careful, the possessive form is very different in Italian. When you see 's remember to change it to the 'of the/di + article' form.
- Mary's dog/il cane di Maria
- the woman's shirt/la maglia della donna
- the man's shoes/le scarpe dell'uomo
Thank you! I was having trouble knowing when the sentence was structured like that. This helps a lot.
Is the order of words critical? I wrote Scrivo della mia famiglia il cognome, and it was wrong
You wrote "I write of my family the surname". Yes, that would be wrong! It needs to be "I write the surname of my family" = "I write my family's surname"
Why don't you drop the article before "famiglia"? I got the last one wrong for putting "il" before "mio zio". Someone explain per favore!
You only drop the article when referring to a SINGLE MEMBER of your family (e.g. my brother = mio fratello, my brothers = i miei fratelli). La famiglia is singular, but it doesn't refer to a single person, so you need the article.
I'd like the opinion of native Italian speakers on this sentence, it seems to me that it's a bit redundant. "Cognome" should imply that it's your family's name already, so shouldn't the real sentences be:
- "Scrivo il mio cognome."
- "Scrivo il nome della mia famiglia."
Thanks in advance to those who'll take the time to answer.
Whenever you refer to your family you DROP the article. Isn't that the same reason why it's mistaken to say "IL mio fratello"?
You only drop the article when referring to a SINGLE MEMBER of your family (e.g. my brother = mio fratello, my brothers = i miei fratelli). La famiglia is singular, but it doesn't refer to a single person, so you need the article.
The answer said, scrivo il mio cognome. I said Scrivo mia famiglia cognome. Explanation please.
I often add the extra la or il, in this case in "la mia famiglia". Any tips on use of articles?
it is enough ! i'm really tired of Duolingo due its stupid usage of the articles
