210 Comments
Both are correct in this context, so we don't know and both are accepted by the system. I used "hers" and it was fine :)
11
I said the kitchen is hers and was marked wrong. But if I say the kitchen is his it is marked correct why?
- 2005
It should be correct both ways, considering the lack of context telling us whose it is. It could have been a glitch.
So if I was having a conversation in Italian, and someone asked who owns the kitchen, and I said "la cucina e la sua", even if the owner was male, is it still correct?
- 2005
Right. In Italian, all adjectives, including all the possessives (possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns), must agree with the noun they go with. In this sentence, the possessive goes with "la cucina", which is singular and feminine. Therefore it must always be "La cucina è la sua."
If you need to specify "his" vs "hers", you need to say "La cucina è di lui" or "La cucina è di lei".
Here we go again, endless debates about" out of context frazes" Also kindly correct me, when the possessive is the last word in the sentence we do "not" use la or le?" Or was that in Italian thing? It may be Italian", it is something kind of Very important for me to know, thanks for your time...could it be French. I made a big note of it, somewhere?
I believe that in French like in English you cannot have a possessive adjective as a predicate, and possessive pronouns need the article, so "C'est mon chat" -> "C'est le mien". In Italian you can actually use the adjective, so "il gatto è il mio" and "il gatto è mio" are equally correct, they just carry slightly different nuances.
Am I getting something different? 'hers' was not given as an alternative...only 'his'
- 2005
If "sua" were capitalized ("Sua") that would be fine, since "Lei" is the formal "you". But since it's lower-case, it can only be "his/hers". Then again, Duolingo doesn't really pay too much attention to capitalization.
No, "it is his kitchen" is wrong as well; the subject of the sentence is the kitchen, not "it", so it's either "The kitchen is his" or "The kitchen is hers".
I understand that when reading and writing, but how can you convey a capital letter when speaking aloud?
- 2005
Yes, "la" is the feminine form of "the", but it must agree with the noun it goes with, not with who owns it. "La cucina" is feminine, and so "la sua" must also be feminine. It has nothing to do with whether "he" or "she" owns it.
So the meaning would be more like 'the kitchen is available' other then hers/his. Correct?
Masculine singular = Il suo Feminine singular = la sua
La cucina e la sua = The kitchen is hers or also It is her kitchen.
I am a bit confused! Some clarification please!
The article and the possessive both only refer to the subject (the kitchen) and not to the person who owns the kitchen. In this case we simply don't know if this person is a guy or a girl, so both 'The kitchen is his' and 'The kitchen is hers' are correct.
So what this means is that "kitchen" is a feminine noun in Italian, is that correct? If we changed it to a masculine noun, like "ragazzo", we woild also have to change "sua" to "suo", and it would mean "the boy is his/hers". Am I correct to make this assumption?
- 2005
"kitchen" is always feminine in Italian. That never changes. But IF it were masculine, then yes, you would say something like "il cucino è il suo" to mean "the kitchen is his/hers". But since it's feminine, we say "la cucina è la sua" to mean "the kitchen is his/hers".
This is because the possessive, like all other adjectives, must agree with the noun it's associated with (in this case "kitchen") and never with who owns it.
I think "L'olio è suo" is a general statement "The oil is his" while "L'olio é il suo" is indicating that the oil belongs to him for sure. This concept might be hard to understand because it does not exist in English. Does anyone has any thought on this?
Yeah I don't think it exists in English, but it does in French. It might be like "it is her kitchen" (sua) vs "the kitchen is hers" (la sua) or "the kitchen belongs to her" (la sua)
I'm not sure I get your point there Jag1949.
Mario è un agricoltore. L'olio è il suo. / L'olio è suo.
or
Anna è un'agricoltrice. L'olio è il suo. / L'olio è suo.
There's no really a difference between those two sentences.
From what I can tell, adding the 'il' doesnt change the meaning of the phrase, it simply emphasises the ownership part of it.
In english we would change our tone slighly and maybe furr our brow to make the point.
Nuances.
- 2005
It's the difference between "It's his (not mine)" and "It (not something else) is his".
Can someone tell me when do we use "il cane è il mio" and "il cane è mio". Thank you in advance
- 933
1) "il cane è mio" - 2) "il cane è il mio".
Both sentences are correct and mean the same thing
There is a slight difference if you switch the sentences in negative form.
1) "il cane NON è mio" = "the dog is not mine" (maybe I have one or more dogs, or maybe I don't have any).
2) "il cane NON è il mio" = "the dog is not mine" (but surely I have or I had a dog)
omg,lol, i am more trapped and confused with "its, his, her , hers.." what is "la sua" and "il suo" exactly ?
- 18
This could also be translated as his/her cooking as in '' la cucina povera'' describing the food of the poor or peasants now very fashionable.
- 18
''la cucina povera'' at this moment in time is exemplified by the programme on Channel Four where Jamie Oliver explores the cooking of Italian ''nonnas'' and their traditional dishes from all over Italy and attempts to reinterpret them.
If you're referring to the formal you, you're kind of right: the program is based mostly on writing sentences out of context, so we only translate suo to you when it is capitalized. Although this rule doesn't always apply outside of formal documents written in Italian, there are pedagogical reasons behind it. There would be a lot of confusion for beginners who would wonder why they just started learning Italian 2 minutes ago and all of a sudden you and she are the same word! Here are a few examples of when formal you would be appropriate (if found beyond the skill dedicated to formal you):
- Sua madre cucina bene = Her/Your mother cooks well.
- Lei è una donna perfetta = She is/You are a perfect woman.
- La preghiamo di andare via! = We ask that you/she please go away!
why is it L'olio è suo , but la cucina è la sua. then shouldnt L'olio è il suo be correct
- 2005
Both ways are correct, depending on what you're emphasizing.
"La cucina è sua" would mean "The kitchen is his/hers (and not mine)." "La cucina è la sua" would mean "The kitchen (this one, not another one) is his/hers."
There's not much of an emphasis. It's just the normal sentece we would use. Saying "Una cucina è sua" would sound weird in italian. It would mean that there are more kitchen and only one is his/hers.
Only in a really rare circumstance and used in a weird way. For example: You go in a restaurant and you recognize from the taste of the dishes that the chef is ceirtanly Mr. X. So you say: "la cucina è la sua". Meaning with the term "cucina" his style of cooking.
- 336
Since no gender is implied, wouldn't a better translation for suo/sua/sue be "theirs"?
It wouldn't be since suo/sua/sue is singular. Theirs corresponds to "loro". :)
- 2005
Going from English to Italian, certainly. From Italian to English, however, I believe awebb is referring to the "singular they" (which was good enough for Jane Austen).
- 336
That's EXACTLY what I mean. It's confusing to say suo or sua both mean his/hers/its, when in reality (at least as far as an English translation goes) they would be better defined as singular "they/their".
That's true, especially since there is no context; but from a teaching perspective, just imagine the mind-boggling confusion that would cause... It's already hard enough teaching the difference between singular, plural and formal you...
- 2005
I can see where you're coming from, because English is also my native language, but consider the Italian speaker learning English. "His cat" can mean the cat is male or female! How do they know whether to translate it as "il suo gatto" or "la sua gatta"? This is why Duolingo accepts either answer when typing, and has you select multiple answers when it's multiple choice.
While this lack of one-to-one correspondence between languages can legitimately be confusing to many learners, it is still something that's important to take a good stab at. For all that it's perfectly fine to use the "singular they", language education in general (and perhaps Duolingo as well) tends to emphasize standard usage, which prefers to keep the singular singular and the plural plural.
- 2005
@franwy No. In English, "his cat" means "the cat belongs to him" and "her cat" means "the cat belongs to her", regardless of the gender of the cat.
In the Romance languages, including Italian, all adjectives, including possessives, have to agree in number and gender with the noun they modify. In the noun phrase "il mio gatto", the noun is "gatto", which is masculine and singular, and so the "il mio" must agree with "gatto", regardless whether I am a man or a woman. "Le tue gatte" means that you, male or female, own multiple female cats.
This is why "la cucina è la sua" can mean both "the kitchen is his" and "the kitchen is hers". "La sua" must agree with "la cucina".
Rae F... I'm totally lost on what you mean by saying.... "but consider the Italian speaker learning English. "His cat" can mean the cat is male or female!...."
You DO know that il suo gatto = his cat... and has Nothing to do with the sex of the cat?
This sentence structure we learned with il suo/la sua - was telling Who owned the cat - not if the cat was male or female. Or did I misunderstand what you meant by referencing the cat's sex?
So when you're taking to another person and you say sua which according to Duolingo is his/hers with no masculine or feminine difference, should the person automatically know what gender and who you're talking about?
- 2005
There may be only 2 (grammatical) genders, but there are ten billion people in the world. Even if you know the gender of the person in question, you'd still have to clarify exactly which person you mean. I'm sure in normal conversation there's context that establishes who you're talking about.
- 2005
"Hers" is the possessive. Saying "the kitchen is her" is the same as saying "she is the kitchen".
Because you need a possessive pronoun there, not a possessive adjective, and "her" is a possessive adjective -- it can't stand alone but needs something after it.
Her kitchen - the kitchen is hers.
Compare: my kitchen - the kitchen is mine. You can't say *"The kitchen is my".
- 2005
Well, in English "cook" is both a verb and a noun: The cook cooks a meal. "Cucina" is both a feminine noun and the 3rd person singular for "cucinare" (to cook).
It is feminine, because "la cucina" (the kitchen) is feminine.
"sua" is either "his" or "her" for objects that are feminine (la sua cucina = his kitchen / her kitchen).
"suo" would be "his" or "her" for objects that are masculine (il suo libro = his book / her book).
Kind of like how "tua" is used for feminine objects no matter whether the owner is masculine or feminine (la tua cucina = your kitchen, regardless of whether you are masculine or feminine).
The more common UK english syntax would be: "It is her (or his) kitchen". According to the discussion her should be accepted, but it isn't.
I think that those two sentences are not equivalent (just as, say, "This book is mine" and "This is my book" are not equivalent).
So talking about "the more common syntax" is misleading - they aren't two different ways of saying the same thing, but two different ways saying two different (but related) things.
"il suo, i suoi, la sua, le sue" can all mean "his, hers, its"; which one to use depends not on the gender of the possessor as it does in English ("his" for a male possessor, "hers" for a female one) but on the gender of the possessed object (e.g. "i suoi" for books, which are grammaticalle masculine).
Can't do the accents on my tablet. How can i get the duolingo onscreen keyboard back? Thanks!
How do I put accent on the "e"? I keep getting this wrong because i can't do it on my phone.
- 2005
That's a different grammatical construction. Compare:
It is her kitchen.
It = pronoun
her kitchen = subject complement
her = possessive adjective
The kitchen is hers.
The kitchen = noun phrase
hers = possessive pronoun as subject complement
I thought sua was feminine and suo was masculine. It this because cucina is fem?
yes. sua IS feminine and suo IS masculine. However they do not solely mean hers and his respectively - they both can mean both his or hers - and as you said, yes, sua is used because the thing being possessed (cucina) is feminine. It agrees with the gender of the thing being owned, not the owner
- 2005
It is correct both ways: "La cucina è sua" and "La cucina è la sua." But they convey slightly different nuances.
"La cucina è sua" would mean "The kitchen is his/hers (and not mine)." "La cucina è la sua" would mean "The kitchen (this one, not another one) is his/hers."
Every language has some exceptions. At least, the Italian language is not as rife with exceptions as English.
I agree, every language has exceptions; however, I was not comparing English language with Italian language. I am trying to understand and learn this language.
Surely "It's her/his kitchen" is right in English? BTW, the right translation if you don't know if something belongs to a man or a woman is "their". Don't believe me? Try this: " Someone rang, but they didn't leave leave a message" 'Nuff said!
WRONG!!! His/hers in English = theirs, e.g. "Someone rang, but they didn't leave their name." Your software should include this alternative.
you are correct yes, and I agree with you. However in the context of this sentence the person saying it (e la sua cucina) probably knows the gender of the person in question. So it wouldn't be wrong to use his or hers.
"é la sua cucina" - is almost word for word. It can mean either "It's her kitchen" or "It's his kitchen".
This sentence - "La cucina é la sua" - is practically the same thing but with a different word order and more emphasis on the fact that it is hers/his.
Yes they should :) but I don't know how to make that accent on my keyboard without changing layouts or typing in a lengthy Alt Code - I use é because it is easy to make - Alt+Ctrl+e - even though I know it's not strictly correct
i'm so confused. How do we know if it is his or hers? can someone explain the rule? google isn't helping.
- 2005
Context, pure and simple. In English, if I say "his dog", you don't know if the dog is male or female. They just encode things differently in Italian.
Do you really discuss to whom the kitchen belongs? In my sense, kitchen is a place, not belonging to any specific person. If anyone says "it's my kitchen," I'd feel really strange.
- 2005
Professional chefs tend to have a sense of dominion. They're in charge of everything. They control who does what and when.
Or homeowners, who have a kitchen in their house. It's their kitchen just like it's their house, their bedroom, their bathroom, their front porch.
why sometimes says: la sua, and some times says sua. I mean sometimes with article and sometimes without article.?
- 2005
Both are correct, but there is a subtle difference in meaning between them. One means it's his (or hers) as opposed to being someone else's and one means the thing (as opposed to something else) is his (or hers).
I put "The kitchen is his" and it was correct. But isn't "la sua", hers? "hers" was not an option.
how do I know which è to use. I haven't seen much of any explanation what that thing on top of it is or what it means and it is kinda frustrating because it tells me I get the letter wrong. can someone please help me out?
- 146
What is wrong with it is her kitchen ?It is a perfectly correct statement and means the same as the kitchen is hers. Please enlighten me!
- 2005
Different grammatical construction.
La cucina è la sua = The kitchen is hers.
Noun phrase in the subject, then the verb, then the possessive pronoun in the predicate.
È la sua cucina = It is her kitchen.
Pronoun in the subject in English, omitted in Italian, then the verb, then a noun phrase including the possessive adjective in the predicate.
A previous sentence translated 'la sua' as hers....even though the structure is the same.
- 2005
Yes. That's because it's suo/sua depending on whether the thing that is owned is masculine or feminine, not whether the owner is male or female.
It's complicated, but maybe is because I am not English Speaker , I don't know all rules about English that so I don't understand well the sentence " LA cucina è la sua "
- 2005
"La cucina è la sua" can mean "The kitchen is his" or "The kitchen is hers".
Puo anche essere "the kitchen is yours" se parla con qualcuno che non conosce
PLEASE FIX THE ERROR WITH "The kitchen is hers." !!! If you ignore our corrections, where else can we ask you to fix them?
- 2005
The comments section is not the place to report issues. You need to report (flag) the lesson before you move on to the next item. The course devs don't read the forums, but reporting it will get the information to them.
This error on the part of DL has not been fixed after three years. See above. I DID report it, but corrections are VERY slow! Or non-existent.
This is the best point... If you need to specify "his" vs "hers", you need to say "La cucina è di lui" or "La cucina è di lei".
I like this comment. "his" vs "hers", you need to say "La cucina è di lui" or "La cucina è di lei".
Is it possible to say " La cucina è suo" to mean "the kitchen is his" and " la cucina è la sua" to mean "the kitchen is hers"?
- 2005
No. It can only be "La cucina è (la) sua" because "la sua" must agree with "la cucina", never with whose it is.
If you need to be more explicit, you would say "La cucina è di lui" or "La cucina è di lei".
I can' get "his," "hers," or "yours" to work. None of them are seen as the right answer even though it says "his" when you get it wrong.
- 2005
If it's multiple-choice, you need to select all of the valid options, not just one of them.
the "Sua" which is used here ends with "a" instead of "e" because cucina is feminine (ends with "a")?
The plurality of the subject can come after the "su(a)"? So we have to identify the subject and its traits first? (eg: La sua mano, but is "sua" the subject, or the hand?)
Whether something is the subject or object of a verb is independent of possessive structure. So la sua mano could be either a subject (e.g. in "your hand is beautiful") or an object (e.g. in "I see your hand").
With sua, we know that the owner is third person singular (i.e. "he" or "she" -- ir possibly "it"), and the possession is feminine singular.
- 2005
The first thing you do is identify the gender and number of the noun. From there you use the appropriate adjectives, possessives, and articles to agree with it. As mizinamo said, it has nothing to do with being a subject or an object or any other declension.
The old woman likes the small cats:
La vecchia donna ama i piccoli gatti.
donna: feminine singular
Therefore it takes la and vecchia
gatti: masculine plural
Therefore it takes i and piccoli
My phone cannot write the accent on the e meaning Is in Italian, so my answer comes up as incorrect. What can I do? Cosa posso fare?
Why does duo let us choose from accents angled 2 different ways in the Italian section?
The possessives section is so far the one that most screams out for a single click to a chart for the learner's reference. Some of us learn that way, by examining a full set to note the patterns, and then applying them. The lack of an overview for the pattern means users are constantly explaining the same patterns over and over.
- 2005
The possessive, like any other adjective, must always agree with the noun it's attached to. So you always use gender and number agreement with what is possessed, never with who possesses it.
IO
il mio = my singular masculine thing
i miei = my plural masculine things
la mia = my singular feminine thing
le mie = my plural feminine things
TU
il tuo
i tuoi
la tua
le tue
LUI/LEI
il suo = his/her singular masculine thing
i suoi = his/her plural masculine things
la sua = his/her singular feminine thing
le sue = his/her plural feminine things
NOI
il nostro
i nostri
la nostra
le nostre
VOI
il vostro
i vostri
la vostra
le vostre
LORO is irregular:
il loro
i loro
la loro
le loro
Thank you for this easy to follow explanation. My point is that on the mobile app, one must wander through comments for a cogent presentation like this. Why isn't there easy access to the "tips and notes" that one finds via the desktop interface?
- 2005
I honestly don't know. I've been clamoring for it ever since I got the app. As it is, I mostly use Duolingo on the website and only use the mobile app to review when I'm not at my computer.
- 2005
It is her kitchen = È la sua cucina.
The kitchen is hers = La cucina è la sua.
- 2005
How exactly was the question presented to you and how exactly did you answer?
How can it be la sua
Because la cucina is grammatically feminine, so su- (his / her) takes a feminine ending -a.
la mia cucina (my kitchen), la sua cucina (his/her kitchen) etc. Always with -a on the possessive.
Conversely, il mio cane (my dog), il suo cane (his/her dog) etc. Always with -o on the possessive since cane is masculine.
- 2005
Because they didn't code that in as a correct answer. Just pick one. Next time the sentence pops up, pick the other one if you want to mix things up. Either is correct, but the combination is awkward.
Yes, in the polite form. But as others have answered here they are normally capitailised, at least on Duoingo. Suo & Sua
I don't get this, the his/her refers to the kitchen and not the person who the kitchen belongs to? How would you say the kitchen is his and actually mean it belongs to a 'him'? And why would you want to say the kitchen is his, if it's (for example) actually hers (if his and hers are both acceptable)?
Correct. We use la sua because cucina is feminine. It is the gender of the noun that decides the gender of the articles/ possessive pronouns, not the gender of the owner. To specify his or hers meaning the owner you should say... 'La cucina é di lui' or 'La cucina e di lei'. For your last question you are thinking in English. All languages are different. In Italian there is no specific his or hers, only sua/suo.
Ok, thanks a lot for explaining. So 'La cucina é di lui' means 'the kitchen is of him'? ie. 'his kitchen'?
Exactly. It's a lot more cumbersome to say than 'la sua cucina', but you can use it if you really want to specify that it is HIS kitchen
I understand that Duolingo says the correct answer is "The kitchen is his", however, I also understand that the Italian word "sua" is defined as her or hers. The article "La" is feminine, as well as, the noun, "cucina", for this reason, I am confused of how "sua" can mean "his." :(
"His", in English, means that the owner is male. (But you would say "his mother" or "his father" -- in English, the "his" does not change, whether the possessed thing is male or female.)
"sua", in Italian, means that the possessed thing is feminine.
So you would use "sua" with "la cucina", because the kitchen is grammatically feminine and that is the thing which is possessed.
But "sua" does not say anything about the gender of the owner. The owner of the kitchen could be a man, a woman -- perhaps even an inanimate object such as a restaurant.
So in English, you could translate it as "his kitchen", "her kitchen", or "its kitchen", depending on the context.
Thank you so much! Your explanation really has helped clear some confusion for me. :))
- 2005
No, possessives don't work like that in Italian. Like all adjectives, it must agree with the thing it modifies, which in this case is "la cucina".
- 43
i keep asking me why "his" is fine. Because, let's say the truth....no man wants a kitchen
Is there the word "hers" in English? I have never seen any word like that!!!
JorgeFelip2 Yes, "hers" is a word in English!
Hers : pronoun
Used to refer to a thing or things belonging to or associated with a female person or animal previously mentioned.
"His eyes met hers"
Another example:
The scarf is hers.
Hope this helps!
- 1363
Does it make sense to label towels (or anything else) "his" and "hers" in Italian?
This translation is for emphasis. Usually, we would say ' It's his/her kitchen'.
- 2005
"Sua" is feminine because it refers to "la cucina", not to whose it is. The kitchen could be hers or his.
- 2005
The grammatical gender of the possessive reflects the grammatical gender of what is owned, not who owns it.
I thought His was "il suo" and hers was "la sua." But, according to the help file attached, it could also be "its" or "your" which is not gender specific. I guess the only real way to learn is to speak with a native Italian!!
- 2005
This has been addressed multiple times already on this page. The possessive is an adjective. And like all adjectives, it must agree in gender and number with the noun is modifies, which is the thing possessed, not who possesses it.
"Lei" is the formal form of "tu", like in Spanish "usted" is the formal form of "tú". If you address someone as "tu" then you use all the "tuo/tuoi/tua/tue" possessives (again, depending on the gender and number of what is possessed) and if you address someone as "Lei" (regardless of their gender because here it no longer means "she" but rather a polite/formal "you") then you use all the "suo/suoi/sua/sue" possessives (again, depending on the gender and number of what is possessed).
"Her" because it is referring to the kitchen. La cucina is femenine. You know this because of "La"
In English, the choice of "her" or "his" depends on the owner, not on the possession.
In Italian, the choice of suo or sua depends on the gender of the possession.
So we can say "her kitchen" or "his kitchen" in English, depending on whether the owner is female or male.
The fact that it is referring to the kitchen is irrelevant for the choice of "his" or "her" in English.
