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- "Come scriviamo il suo cognom…
62 Comments
476
I also find it difficult to understand how, without context, you are supposed to know that it is HER name and not HIS.
There is a skill dedicated specifically to learning the formal Lei later on. There you'll see examples in which it is capitalized because this is largely a text based program and we don't want to drive anybody crazy! Outside of that skill, if you see Lei capitalized (such as at the beginning of a sentence) feel free to also translate it as you :)
1262
It can mean either 'his' or 'her'. The 'il suo' is only masculine because the word 'cognome' is masculine - 'il suo' doesn't relate to the gender of the person it is describing.
344
So, duolingo offers no explanation why they mark "his" as wrong when no context is offered to decide between his or her.
1193
The gender of 'Suo/Sua' depends on the gender of the object (thing being spoken about) not the gender of the subject (person to whom the thing belongs). 'Suo/Sua' can mean his/hers/its
1193
It is because 'cognome' is masculine. His/her/its name/surname would always be 'il suo cognome' The object here is name/surname, therefore the gender is for the object (masc.) not the subject (her -fem.) of the sentence.
453
I am a french speaker learning Italian and English. I learned at school: cognome = nom = family name and nome = prénom = firstname.
305
When you hear suo rather than seeing it in writing , it is reasonable to translate it as your not she or he If you ask for someone's surname you obviously are ill acquainted and hence formal iOS needed
247
I translated "Come scriviamo il suo cognome" as How do you write his surname! It was marked incorrect, and said the correct answer should be her surname! I thought suo could be either his or hers!