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- "My mother's furniture is whi…
"My mother's furniture is white."
Translation:I mobili di mia madre sono bianchi.
55 Comments
724
I keep forgetting furniture in general is plural and have decided to try and think of it as "furnitures' to see if this helps.
291
Sometomes however DL uses singular: mobile. Like in la chive è sul mobile. Two exercises ago!
furniture = The movable articles in a room or an establishment that make it fit for living or working.
Beacuse "furniture" is a noun that refers to multiple objects we use plural "i mobili" but if it were "piece of furniture" we would use singular "il mobile". some examples:
This piece of furniture is white. = Questo mobile è bianco.
Il mobile di mia madre è bianco = My mother's piece of furniture is white = (this would be a strange sentence, and we would usually say exactly which piece of furniture we are talking about. "Il tavolo di mia madre è bianco".
303
Yes, but you aren't speaking English, you are speaking Italian. Languages are not necessarily a one-for-one translation.
Please read the other comments before posting.
If you look carefully, you'll notice that the word for "furniture" in English is actually plural in Italian. This makes it easier to make it singular; in English, we have to add "piece of" in front of "furniture" if we want to talk about a singular piece.
In that way, you need «sono» to mean "they [the pieces of furniture] are."
303
First, singular would be 'le mobile.' Second, take a look at the explanation of dnovinc above. In short, furniture is generally thought of as plural and is treated that way in Italian.
It does not mean "is." If you look carefully, you'll notice that the word for "furniture" in English is actually plural in Italian. This makes it easier to make it singular; in English, we have to add "piece of" in front of "furniture" if we want to talk about a singular piece.
In that way, you need «sono» to mean "they [the pieces of furniture] are."
This is not the subject and object. The "furniture" is actually the subject of the sentence, while "the mother's" shows who possesses the furniture. What happens in Italian and other Romance languages is that there is no such thing as an "'s" as in English to show possession, so you always have to say the thing first and then "of" whoever, if you want to specify who owns it. If not, you can just say «I suoi mobili» for simply "Her furniture." Therefore, possessive pronouns like "her" come before the thing that is owned; otherwise, specified owners must come after it following a «di»
931
Because of the improper hints I always get this wrong. Every time. This whole 'learning through failure thing' is NOT working.
Please read the other comments before posting.
If you look carefully, you'll notice that the word for "furniture" in English is actually plural in Italian. This makes it easier to make it singular; in English, we have to add "piece of" in front of "furniture" if we want to talk about a singular piece.
In that way, you need «sono» to mean "they [the pieces of furniture] are."