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- "Le ragazze bevono latte."
28 Comments
il - masculine singular i/gli- masculine plural
la-feminine singular le-feminine plural
Maybe both are correct? In the question before this one it was "Tu bevi il latte", or does it change for plural?
Because its "the girls" and you cant use il on femenine words or expressions
In european languages, a group of feminine and masculine is referred to as masculine.. So, ragazzi can refer to kids, but ragazze refers mainly to girls, that's why kids cannot be used here
For clarification here, ragazze refers to a group that is all girls, not mainly. Kids can be used, but since we know we're only talking about girls, that's the better translation.
I don't get when i should use il before food. Sometimes is it il latte, sometimes it is just latte. In both cases there is no the in english translation
Sometimes with "il" is wrong. Sometimes it isn't I don't mind a language not following any specific rules, but at least tell us how it is used in a normal speaking situation.
583
If there is no "il/the" in the Italian sentence, there will be no "the" in the English sentence. If there is a "the" in the English sentence, there will be an "il/the" in the Italian sentence. The problem for English speakers is if there is an "il/the" in the Italian sentence. What do we do? As in English, if the Italian sentence is about a specific thing, like the glass of milk on the table that we're talking about, you would use "il/the" just like we do in English. If it were about milk in general, the Italians many/most? times just throw an "il/the" in where we do not in English. But, the Italian sentence is correct without the "il", as it is here.
Sounds like you are saying the use of il/the in Italian is optional unless the sentence is about a specific thing?
- 583
That is how it is being taught here by Duolingo, and they will accept both ways as correct. Some Italian speakers in these threads have said that they use the definite article when we would not in English, like in this sentence. There is a man who posts a lot, though, who strongly disagrees. I'm not sure if his native language is Italian or not. I have tried to research this question on line but have not been able to find an answer to this specific question. I guess consulting a text book that teaches Italian is the next logical step in getting a definitive answer to this question which, in my mind, remains unanswered.
I made a mistake first time I heard this because it sounded as if it's said la te (the tea). Of course it doesn't fit (te, I think, is male), but it's still confusing.
Very bad pronunciation voice drops at end of words, which in Italian is important.
Because ragazzo means boy. Ragazze is the plural of ragazza which means girl.
Listen closely. One syllable or two, the second a distinctly different vowel.
