- Forum >
- Topic: Italian >
- "I write on white sheets of p…
"I write on white sheets of paper."
Translation:Scrivo su fogli bianchi.
47 Comments
226
sui = su+i = on the
- I write on white sheets of paper = scrivo su fogli bianchi
- I write on the white sheets of paper = scrivo sui fogli bianchi
it is true that italian language uses articles more and in a different way from English, but in this case the article has the same meaning
https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/1012366/When-to-use-the-definite-article
Italian often uses a definite article where we wouldn't in English. I would like a native-speaker of Italian answer this question.
why "scrivo su fogli di carta bianchi" is wrong? mustn't we translate "of paper"?
- 226
The correct translation should be: "scrivo su (dei) fogli di cartA biancA"
-Unlike in English, descriptive adjectives in Italian are usually placed after the noun they modify, and with which they agree in gender and number.-
- scrivo su fogli di carta bianca (fem. sing.)
- scrivo su fogli bianchi di carta (masc. pl.)
Sui not accepted. I appreciate that literally translated it would be "the sheets..." but all through tgese modules we see examples where the definite article is not used in English but is used in Italian. For example "I cavalli sono animali utili".
Since it has been questioned by so many people, is there any moderator over there who can explain why sui is not accepted.
I also considered "sui" but that would be "I write on the white sheets of paper". The definite article is not included in the original sentence, hence it is only "su" - .... on white sheets....
Except Italian generally does use the definite article. We have cars, in this very same module, is "abbiamo l'automobile" which literally translates as we have THE cars. I think what people are wondering is whether this is an exception or whether the definite article is really required everywhere else
How do you figure out the order of the words? Always getting it mixed up because it isn't in order.
Sometimes we are told that it is okay to have the adjective ahead of the noun and sometimes it is marked wrong. How do we ever know when we can or cannot do this. So very confusing with no one to explain.
why "pagine bianche" doesn't work? I mean, I know it's "pages" but what else other than pages are "white sheets of paper"?
- 136
i working through is progressively and want to know two things. In this lesson, when did they explain "fogli" to mean sheets of paper? Why do they drop phrases and word pairings that have not been explained prior? This is the frustrating part. I get keeping us on our toes, but last I checked "foglio" means sheet and "carta" mean paper. Why give us a new turn of phrase if not explaining it at any time prior? It's a bit frustrating
NB 'sheets of white paper': when I translated 'fogli bianchi' as sheets of white paper, a couple of sentences ago, it was marked wrong!
- 553
This must be the 100th time I get this wrong and I can never remember it's SU and not SUI :'(
I used sui fogli bianchi, but it's wrong? All of the explanations, I've read, doesn't make sense at all! It was Duolingo that taught us that in Italian you have to use mostly the article, accept when you talk of family matters (mia padre, suo fratello). But now that's not the case. And now all of the sudden it's wrong? It is not logical at all and very frustrating!
Colours typically go after the noun they modify. However, the colour might go before the noun if the color is the primary and most important characteristic of the noun (eg "The White House" might be translated as "La Bianca Casa").
It looks there is no rule how to use articles and prepositions in Italian even if there are they must be so slippery and tricky.
