7 Comments
What a surprise, "lasciare" can also mean "to go away from something"! (www.wordreference.com and dict.leo.org confirm that)
I actually had a question about may and can. So if you want to be polite in english instead of saying " Can i have the salt" one would ask " May i have the salt."
Does italian have any similar rule? Is there a dif word for may? thank you
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I think that is not necessarily the case. If you are dismissing someone from your presence, you might say "You can leave the room." Or if you are reprimanding a child for misbehaving at dinner, you might say "you can leave the room."
Wouldn't the most correct translation technically be"You may..." instead of "you can" since it is obvious that the possibility of doing the action exists, unless the person is in prison.
Like "You can eat now" is actually not as correct " you may eat now." Just my two cents.
It doesn't seem to be as much an issue of which is correct, as which is more formal or informal. These links explain it:
http://www.grammar-monster.com/easily_confused/can_may.htm
http://www.dailywritingtips.com/can-vs-may/
If you Google "can versus may" you'll find even more. :)
Assuming this isn't just a Duolingoism, any of our more fluent peers know what connotation this would have? It sounds like halfway between granting someone permission to be excused and dismissing someone. Or is this just one of those sentences no one would use in the normal course of the day?
