"Come scriviamo il suo cognome?"
Translation:How do we write her surname?
75 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
130
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 :)
1958
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.
12
So, duolingo offers no explanation why they mark "his" as wrong when no context is offered to decide between his or her.
1894
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
1894
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.
973
Whether it's suo or sua depends on cognome, which is a masculine noun, so il suo would apply to both his and her surname ( cognome)!
1157
I am a french speaker learning Italian and English. I learned at school: cognome = nom = family name and nome = prénom = firstname.
973
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!
973
Il suo cognome; il suo could be either his or hers, so why was my answer of his not accepted!
390
The voice recognition/pronunciation is faulty again. I am marked wrong before I even speak no matter how many times I speak the sentence before pressing the record button it immediately says it is wrong.It says wrong on all of the pronunciation and it should not be doing that.
973
My answer should have been accepted( I typed his name); il suo could be either his or her!
973
Being marked wrong for translating the Italian il suo, into his, instead of her is completely wrong! Il suo can be either his or her!