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The more complicated the sentences get, the harder it is for me to CLEARLY hear what the speaker is saying, even when I repeat it slower. Anyone else have this problem?
It goes with the territory in Italian. So many words end with vowels that they blend together seamlessly. In conversational Italian, it can sometimes feel like you're listening to a 175 syllable word. I find it very challenging, and very pretty.
At this point in our learning, we also stumble across a growing number of homophones; that is, words that sound alike but aren't. This is where learning must expand beyond rote memorization, as context is everything.
Thankyou for this explanation! I, too, find this aspect of audio/verbal comprehension increasingly difficult!
I'm having the same problem with the audio. The longer the sentence, the tougher it gets.
You're right, but therein lies the beauty of the language. I can sit down and read an Italian newspaper and more or less understand what i'm reading about. However, If a native speaker read it to me I wouldn't have a clue. Have you tried 'The News in Slow Italian' podcast? Still tricky but a lot easier.
Sometimes the sounds blending together become a feature of the language such as in Korean where the L absorbs the N. I'm this sentence, the same phenomenon is happening. I hear nol•lo•vis•to•dal•lo•ra.
With avere verbs the participle agrees with the direct object (if one is present). Since visto is masculine, the l' is abbreviating lo not la.
Because l'ho is lo ho ; lo is a direct object pronoun which means him or it.
EDIT Actually, I think I am wrong. After looking at some other questions it seems la can also be abbreviated before avere. But I don't think li and le can be.
In this case I think it is because visto is masculine, you know the object is also masculine.
isn't it because l' would only refer to feminine if it was "vista" - ie vista would be agreeing with the direct object. Since it is "visto" "l'" it must be referring to a masculine object? ????
I have the same question: Would "d'allora" be acceptable (or even preferred)? In general, are contractions like this "optional" -- i.e., if I choose not (or forget) to contract the two words, is it still okay?
I don't know if this contraction is "preferred" but it is certainly done.
Examples of "d'allora" (since then) from https://dictionary.reverso.net/italian-english/d'allora
This sounds natural to me but thinking about it I don't understand why "lo" is used to translate "him" and not "lui"...
"lui" is the subject pronoun = "he".
"lo" is the direct object pronoun = "him"
just as 'lei" is the subject pronoun = "she" and "la" is the direct object pronoun = "her"
I have not seen him. Non l'ho visto.
I have not seen her. Non l'ho vista.
He has not seen me. (Lui) Non mi ha visto.
