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- "Vuoi che faccia il caffè?"
22 Comments
How can I know that this is "I make the coffee". I understand that "faccia" is used in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd person singular forms of the subjunctive, but how on earth would I know in this situation?
This is why Italians are famous for using their hands to improve comprehension! :)
This isnt really true here. Its in the implication of the sentence. Its true that the first second and third are the same but it would be illogical in construction as second person person and third person will always specify the name. So if it was second person it would be voi fare il cafe?
I don't think there is a way to know the difference between I, you, he/she/it in this case because, as you say "faccia" is subjunctive for all three forms. The only way you would know would be within the context of the situation.
The absence of a subject pronoun implies that it isn’t second person.
I agree totally. According to my grammar books the sentence should be:
Vuoi che io faccia il caffè?
I happend to get this right by guessing. Did anyone write Do you want to make the coffee? & get marked correct?
Could we have a lot more EASY examples please so that we can familiarise ourselves with the notion of subjunctives.
Do you want him to make coffee? is okay. Theoretically "do you want you to make the coffee" is possible but I would have phrased that as: vuoi fare il caffè? Do you want to make coffee?
Theoretically "do you want you to make the coffee" is possible…
Absolutely not. For one due to the reason you mentioned, and also because the pronoun tu is generally obligatory in the present subjunctive mood.
I think that "would you like me to make coffee" better preserves the "subjunctive" politeness of the italian sentence?
I don't think the subjunctive has to do with politeness. That would be the conditional, would it not? "Vorresti..." for "Would you like...".
I still think your suggestion should be accepted, but DL seems to want literal translations over correct English.
You're right - the subjunctive doesn't have to do with politeness, but rather with the fact that the speaker is discussing a wish, a desire, a belief or something else similar. In this case, "do you want that I/he/she make coffee?" (to be perhaps over-literal). A nearly sure sign that the subjunctive is needed is the use of 'che'.
It cannot be second person; it can only be first or third. "Do you want to make coffee" would be Vuoi fare il caffè. You only need a clause with che when the subject of the clause is different from the main subject.
Duo should accept "do you want him to make coffee?" and "do you what her to make coffee." But "do you want to make coffee" is 100% wrong.
It cannot be second person; it can only be first or third. "Do you want to make coffee" would be Vuoi fare il caffè. You only need a clause with che when the subject of the clause is different from the main subject.
Even if the subjects were different, the subordinate clause couldn’t be in the second person. A singular subjunctive form without a subject is generally assumed to be either first or third person.
