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- "There are various books on t…
"There are various books on the desk."
Translation:Ci sono diversi libri sulla scrivania.
36 Comments
792
The expressions c'è, ci sono, c'era, c'erano meaning "there is/are/was/were" are not used without c' or ci, see https://it.wiktionary.org/wiki/esserci
792
it doesn't and wouldn't, see https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/365985?comment_id=40725479
Because it is an indefinitive adjective here. Here, "diversi" means "different, various" in the sense of "several".
i libri diversi=the different books
libri diversi=different books
diversi libri=several books.
You don't use the article between the adjective and the noun, that's why "diversi i libri" is incorrect. Hope this was somewhat helpful :)
Thanks mary_505. I wrote "i libri diversi". If I am understanding your explanation correctly, by adding the definite article it changes the meaning of the word "diversi" so that it still means "different" but not in the sense that is the same as "various". Subtle difference but great explanation. Thank you. Have a lingot.
792
You use the contraction sul, sull', sullo, sulla, sui, sugli sulle according to the article that would precede the noun; scrivania is feminine so it is sulla scrivania.
792
lo does appear before s+consonant and before z and some other combinations of consonants when the noun is masculine, for example lo scrittoio, but for feminine nouns starting with whatever consonants it is la.
886
I wonder why the partitive article is not accepted. I wrote "ci sono dei libri vari". Let me know what you think of this.