"Lei vuole sia la maglia rossa sia la maglia nera."
Translation:She wants both the red shirt and the black shirt.
41 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
According to Zanichelli's New College Italian and English Dictionary, "sia...sia" can mean either "both...and" or "either...or."
that's absurd. they are quite contradictory concepts, so there must be a way to distinguish between the two usages, right?
According to that, I should have gotten it right by using "either... or"!
I used the "either...or" version once (on another exemple) and they said I was wrong...they used the expression "be it...or" which although I can see at a right option I believe it's far from being the most utilized. Now I used that expression and they said I was wrong. I love this corrections.
I'm not sure how "sia... sia" could mean "either or". Could you please mention one of the examples?
Why could you not say; 'Lei vuole sia la maglia rossa e la maglia nera'?
It's obviously idiomatic but I wanted to get a more detailed reason if possible!
Thanks guys, :)
You can say "Lei vuole sia la maglia rossa che la maglia nera". (An expert said it in another discussion). I don't know about sia + e.
I understand what the literal Italian is saying, but in colloquial English you could say "she wants both the red and black shirts" without repeating the article twice.
why doesn't it allow "she WOULD LIKE" when the definition under vuole says that "would like" is acceptable. I understand it is a different (more polite) word, but when it actually says it is ok in the drop down box, then it should be ok.
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I'm not sure why "would like" is in the list of definitions. In English, this is (effectively) the conditional mood for the verb "to want". The conditional mood basically expresses a hypothetical situation that may or may not hold true, and can be identified in English by the placing of the word "would" in front of the verb. For example, "I would go outside but it's too cold," or, "They would have come if they'd been invited." The phrase "would like" is similarly indicating that you would like something in the hypothetical case where you got it.
Having said all that, the conditional mood (modo condizionale) in Italian for the verb volere ("to want") in third-person singular is "vorrebbe". So if the sentence read "Lei vorrebbe sia la maglia rossa sia la maglia nera" then "She would like" would be correct. But as it is, I don't think it's right.
i have that problem some times. it also will sometimes not give the word you are supposed to use
Hi guys! I'm not a native english speaker so I'm in doubt: Is it correct if I translate the sentence above as "She wants both the red shirt and the black one"? Thanks
In natural speaking, that's exactly what an English speaker might say. However, it's not a direct translation of this sentence. I think (though I'm wondering myself) that your sentence would literally translate to "Lei vuole sia la maglia rossa e la nera" (without saying "maglia" again the second time).
Being a native English speaker myself, I have never used a sentence in that way before. When you are specifying what one is, you should specify what the other is as well. Otherwise, it could mean "She wants both the red shirt and the black (item). It could be anything. Or sometimes I would write "Both the red and black shirts."
Really? I hear & use this all the time. "Let's see, I'll take the black shoes -- oh, and also the purple ones!" (Also a native English speaker.)
I think I wrote it ok... I mean, I used "one" at the end in order to not repeat the word "shirt". Is there any mistake?
I have trouble hearing the difference between "rossa" and "rosa." Any tips?
The "rossa"" sounds like "Saturday", and "rosa" sounds like "Zorro".I hope this help you.
It´s simply more long, the first one is (exaggeratedly) "rossssssa". Try this page for this "particularly differences": http://www.oddcast.com/home/demos/tts/tts_example.php?sitepal
I translated this to " She wants the red shirt as much as the black shirt." (wrong) Is it that case that in Italian, this sentence emphasizes that the desire is for both, rather than the fact that the desire for each is equal?
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Yes - I think she wants both, but she might want the red one more than the black, whereas in your sentence she wants them both equally.
I'm not native english, but why is "She wants the red shirt as well as the black shirt" wrong?
"As well as" is generally a synonym for "and," but I suppose there's a subtle distinction. . . Personally, as a native English speaker, I think that should be correct. Have you reported it?
I think "She wants the red shirt as well as the black shirt" should be an acceptable usage here.
I don't see why "she wants the red shirt and the black shirt" isn't accepted. The word both is redundant and would only be used for emphasis.
Why was this wrong ? : she wants the red shirt and the black shirt It means the same !
Why do you use sweater and shirt in the answer when in Italian you have used the same word maglia
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I take my hat off to all you people who are not native english speakers! I'm finding this hard enough to learn and am a native english speaker but to have to learn all the other languages as well takes some doing. Well done all you brainy people!! I learnt german to a minor degree a few years ago - and only by living there and marrying one - and it's a long way from being perfect, and this is much more difficult, doing it on a machine with no-one to actually talk to, except occasionally my daughter-in-law who's parents are sicilian and use a lot of different words.
