"He drinks milk."

Translation: Lui beve latte.

[Lolologist]

Why is "il" needed here? "He drinks milk" not "he drinks the milk"

Lui beve il latte ?= "he drinks the milk"

Lui beve latte ?= "he drinks milk"

[mukkapazza]

Here are the options:

• Lui beve latte.
• Lui beve il latte.
• Lui beve del latte.
• Beve latte.
• Beve il latte.
• Beve del latte.
• you can even use egli if you're feeling a little crazy

Basically, the use of the definite and the partitive don't match up precisely with the way they're used in English. There are a few discussions throughout the site on the Italian use of the definite article (one here http://duolingo.com/#/comment/295808) if you want to know more.

[makalove]

I included "il" and it was counted wrong.

[Rae.F]

Does this help?

https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/5643202$comment_id%3D28037197

[Kevin968039]

@Rae.F grazie

[NealBertelsen]

Why is latte masculine in italian, and feminine in other romantic languages. And that begs the etymological question, when were things determined as masculine and feminine, and HOW did they determine them as such? Intuitively, it would make sense that milk is feminine, seeing as it is always derived from the female in nature. Anyone have thoughts or a good article on this subject?

[Rae.F]

Actually, the word that translates as "milk" was masculine in the original Latin, and remains masculine in many Romance languages. That it's feminine in Spanish seems to be the exception.

http://www.nativlang.com/romance-languages/grammar/nouns-gender.php

[RaduBunda]

Indeed. It's also masculine in Romanian btw (un lapte).

[mariliamdiniz]

Milk (leite) is also masculine in Portuguese.

[sjawadiwar]

In French, it is also masculine. Le lait.

[PennyMannel]

Why do the hints say "Lui bevi latte"?

[Rae.F]

That's an error. It should be "Lui beve latte".
"Bevi" is the "tu" conjugation.

[gjcdeluxe]

The suggestion DL gives here is wrong. I typed "Lui beve latte", but then saw in the pop-up tips that it says "(lui) beva" so I changed it and it marked me wrong!

[Rae.F]

"Beva" is the subjunctive. We need the indicative here.

https://www.italian-verbs.com/italian-verbs/conjugation.php?parola=bere

[Heinekencz]

He drinks milk....Lui beve latte.

Incorect? Why?

[Rae.F]

Without knowing more about what precisely happened, I'd say glitch. That should have been correct, assuming you didn't make a typo or something like that.

[Lorraine605637]

Why not lui beva?

[Rae.F]

Because bere is an -ere verb. "Beva" is the subjunctive.

https://www.italian-verbs.com/italian-verbs/conjugation.php?parola=bere

https://i.imgur.com/8atYu1Y.png

The stem of "bere" is "bev-", but it otherwise follows the -ere pattern.

[TommyPez1]

Though the hint says "beva" so DL has a glitch

[OrlandoLam1]

If saying he you should be saying "Lui beve latte"

[Hans142566]

He drinks milk. And the hints say: Lui beva. Thanks !

[FredTuite]

Why does the hint say (Lui) beva? That's not fair!

[Hans142566]

The hint says: Lui beva latte. That is so damn annoying.

[TommyPez1]

The hover literally says "beva" but if you type that in you get it wrong.

[MalcolmKan1]

The hints here completely incorrecrly suggests "lui beva" as the conjugation!

[Stickwarfan123]

The hints are wrong