"Noi beviamo acqua."
Translation:We drink water.
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I agree with you...when I speak with my Italian friends they say l'acqua even if it is NOT referring to a specific. According to them "you always use the article". So...need a native speaker to rule on this I think.
I confirm... It is more correct and "usual" to say: "Noi beviamo l'acqua"
The omission of the article is possible in Italian but it follows precise rules
http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/omissione-dell-articolo_(La-grammatica-italiana)/
nevertheless the expression "Noi beviamo acqua" is acceptable but with a meaning of "some water" instead... for example "Beviamo acqua tutti giorni" = "Beviamo dell'acqua (or un po' d'acqua) tutti i giorni"
HTH
Ciao
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Oh, yes. Very hard, there are so many different symbols and the syntax is very confusing. It's not one of my favorites
My main languages are Spanish (a standard in high school) and Swedish, but I've also done quite a lot of Irish and Norwegian.
It really depends. I traveled Italy for about a month, and very few people used the specific "the" as in this case. I think it is a dialect thing.
Yes, something very fishy about this one, because the question before it for me was "The men drink water" and "l'acqua" was accepted. Along with several others of similar structure. Seems like an oversight.
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Even in english you can say "we drink water" or "we drink the water" right ? In italian is the same....
for the english comment its kind of weird to say we drink the water. saying "the water" is more for when you're referencing specific water. like "we drink the water" in the context of talking about tap water for example. I hope that helps
OK, hands up if you've got the drinking song from "La Traviata" playing in your head now. :-D
Can this also be "we are drinking water" as well? Just wondered...
You're right, the present progressive also works. In Italian, the simple present is commonly used the way an English speaker might use the present progressive.
That is correct. Conjugation for verb "bevere" goes: io bevo (I drink), tu bevi (you drink), lui/lei beve (he/she drinks), noi beviamo (we drink), voi bevete (you drink), loro bevono (they drink)
Quote from my first year italian book. "in Italian, the definite article is (with two exceptions) required before every noun. This is not one of those exceptions.
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Using this app, i was asked to translate this sentence, "Noi beviamo acqua," and got it wrong. The app corrected me using the following answer, "Let us drink water," instead of, "We drink water," or even, "We are drinking water." I'm so confused!
You are right . The translation of: "Noi beviamo acqua" is We drink water...
But without a subject "noi", we could translate the same way in which Duolinguo suggests: "Let us drink water".
In Italian the first -person plural of present indicative and the first person plural of exhortative subjunctives are identical.
I leave a link , but it is in Italian ... sorry :)... I hope that helps
http://www.englishgratis.com/1/risorse/grammatica/gram-v-14-imperativo.htm
Ciao
Uhhh pressed "can't listen now" by accident. Tell me doesn't that happen to you guys
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I've had the same experience. Not sure if it's my hearing, too much noise in the room, or maybe the speaker's accent--probably all of the above :)