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- "Lui non aiuta in casa."
39 Comments
In English, we would more likely say "he does not help around the house".
Hahaha... The first two sentences I got in this lesson were "She loves her husband" and "He does not help around the house".
"Alla casa," would be referring to a specific house that he doesn't help in. This sentence is closer to the general English meaning of just generally not helping around the house.
"In" is just more general. Think of this sentence as talking about this person's lack of effort "at home" in general, which may refer to an apartment, condo, actual house, mansion, etc. "Nella casa," is would refer to a specific house where this guy isn't doing any work.
"Help" is acting as a verb in this sentence, so that translation gets too far away from the original meaning.
I think it is correct, but the people who entered the answers only enter two o three possible answers when in reality there are more, but it would take too much time to analyze all the possibilities and space in their server.
"Help out" may be acceptable American English, but it sounds odd to a Brit in this context.
i have answered "he is no help in the house" and it has been declined - why?
Because your translation could mean something else. In a specific context, the meaning could be the same, but word for word it is a different meaning. Aiuta is the verb in the sentence, which refers to actually action of helping, not the noun version of 'help'.
In other words, 'He is no help in the house' could also mean that he's bad at housework, rather than being unwilling or unable to do the work.
why 'in' and not 'a'? is the another one of those sentences where it literally translates to he does not help in the house, which would explain the use of 'in'.
Because "aiutare" is a verb, and verb conjugations in the present tense aren't based on gender.
why doesn't the verb conjugate to aiute for lei/lui? the other forms follow typical conjugations: lord aiutano, noi aiutiamo, tu aiuti
“are” verbs such as this one (aiutare) typically conjugate lei/lui with an “a”: aiutA, mangiA etc “ere” and “ire” verbs conjugate lei/lui with an “e”: leggE, bevE etc
they also differ in the loro conjugations. “are” verbs are loro aiutANO mangiANO. while “ere” and “ire” verbs are loro leggONO bevONO
Because that doesn't capture the meaning of the Italian "a casa" in English. The idiomatic phrase in English is "at home." If you said "at the house," you'd be referring to a specific house (and likely not one you lived in).
