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- Topic: Italian >
- "They eat some apples."
"They eat some apples."
Translation:Loro mangiano delle mele.
29 Comments
Mangiano qualche mele is plural. So why is it a problem, why should it be 'qualche mela'?
Apparently qualche has no plural form and is always followed by the singular form of the noun, as in qulache giorno. See for example:http://www.italiangrammarsite.net/Chapter%203.htm
Is there a rule as to when you use del- vs qualche when refererring to "some"?
702
Found this explanation on http://blogs.transparent.com/italian/qualche-alcuni-o-dei/
When talking about unspecified quantities we can use several forms. The most common indefinite adjective is qualche, which means ‘some’, ‘any’, or ‘a few’.
The problem with qualche is that it is invariable, and always singular, but expresses the idea of plurality. Let’s look at the way we use it:
Ho comprato qualche pianta al mercato (I bought some plants on the market)
Qualche albero è caduto a causa del forte vento (Some trees have fallen because of the strong wind)
Qualche giorno fa siamo andati al mare (A few days ago we went to the sea)
Conosci qualche buon ristorante qui vicino? (Do you know any good restaurants near here?)
- 622
Yes. Native speakers don't use the pronoun since it is attached to the verb. I guess DL is using them to teach us.
Doesn't 'Delle' Mean "Of The (Plur. Fem. Noun)"? So Why Does It Mean "Some" Here?
Yes, that is exactly how it breaks down. And that is how most Romance languages say "some". "Mele" is feminine plural, which is why that form is used here.
My question for you is why you always capitalize every single word.
Remember it reading somewhere here on duo, Essi and Loro both are correct. However Essi is less commonly used in daily conversations. Not a native Italian
No, I bounce around according to my attention span and mood. Once in a great while I might do two or three at a time for a day or two.
I've been studying Italian on DL for about 6 weeks now, so I haven't gotten very far - but with all the cognates, it's been relatively easy (especially compared to Japanese, which I studied for a couple of years). I am happy with my progress so far. I think I'm going to try Turkish next, because it's from a different language family than any other language I've studied.
- 266
I think I did it right because mele is plural for mela so why did they say it was wrong ??
That entirely depends on what you put for the rest of the sentence. We have no way of knowing that, so when you ask for help, you need to include those kinds of details. How was the question presented to you? If it was multiple choice, what were all of the options? If it was typing, how precisely did you answer?
"Delle" literally breaks down as "of the". But it is used as the partitive "some" in contexts such as this.
That's always been how they say "some". Italian, French, Spanish, they all say "of the" where we say "some".
