"We buy towels."

Translation:Compriamo asciugamani.

May 2, 2013

19 Comments
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https://www.duolingo.com/profile/ceceg

I love it when Italian words can be easily tied to the English translation without memorization. Case in point: asciugamani = dry + hands = towel


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/drillvoice

wow! I was wondering why the heck towel was such a bizarre word...this was before I learnt what "dry" and "hands" were.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/lpr504

What is the rule for when to eliminate the article?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/DanJSDK

I'd like to know this too. There probably isn't an all-encompassing rule, but at least I hope someone could briefly explain certain words or constructions to look out for...


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Frenecks

Why is compriamo i asciugamani wrong?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Caro_Coffee

Because it's gli asciugamani


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/NadinaMaria22

Caro_Coffe: So, I had incorrectly answered: Compriamo i asciugamani. I couldn't figure out why. But I bet, if I had typed: gli asciugamani--maybe it would have been marked correct.

Thanks for helping me understand! I need to remember that gli is required for plural masculine nouns that start with vowels! (probably didn't express that exactly right. But I am trying!!!)


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/sharkbbb

Because we do not buy specific towels

  • We buy (some) towels = (Noi) compriamo (dell')asciugamani

https://www.duolingo.com/profile/AlphaCentauri

But it doesn't say we buy some towels. We could generally have a habit of buying towels, or it might be our responsibility in the purchasing department.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Alex-Salsiccia

Vowel alert. Degli asciugamani


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/rayner91

I like this word, it does make me chuckle that it sounds a little like " A Sugar Mummy"


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Dave.Agudelo

asciugamani is not the only word to refer to the towel, one can also say Straccio...


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Hedwi9

I thought that in italian the articles for plural and undetermend (probably wrong spelling of the word, but I mean 'some and few' and not 'two, ten, thousand etc') will become: dei (male) delle (female) and degli (vowel or s-impura). Very much like the use of de, du, de la, des in french. In this sentence I put degli before asciugamani (because of 'some towels') and it was correct. Question: is the use of degli an option, or is it right to leave it out for now because we haven't got the grammar yet?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/safibta

Why is temponare not accepted despite being one of the meanings?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/jannmill

I don't see how any of the "don't rules' apply to asciugamani. I guess its just the unwritten exception to the unwritten rule.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/sjuro54

Why would "compriamo dei asciugamani" be wrong?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Alex-Salsiccia

Degli asciugamani. Starts with a vowel!


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/SarahHarri794288

How are we supposed to know words not presented before?

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