"Quando ero piccolo, non mi mettevo i pantaloni."
Translation:When I was little, I would not wear pants.
73 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
I found understanding "would" quite challenging so perhaps my present concept may help others who read this discussion. I found it helps to appreciate the English use of "would" is used in two contexts: 1) What would happen if....(the conditional) 2) What would have happened in the past. (Imperfect) The next trick is to put this into the appropriate Italian tense.
1805
"would" is conditional, but used by americans to mean "used to". Also pants are underwear, pantaloni are trousers :+)
127
'When I used to be small, I did not wear trousers' not accepted by DL - can anyone please explain why this was not acceptable ? thanks.
955
Yep, this is definitely one where the use of US English raises an eyebrow to those who speak GB English...
891
If "mi" is before the verb, why is it wrong to add "myself" at the end of the sentence. This would mean that I put on trousers but that someone, mother?, helped me. If adding "myself" is wrong, why is the Italian not "i miei pantaloni"?
Addressing the second half of your question: I can't say for certain, but when translated exactly, the sentence means "I would not put on myself the pants". I imagine that it is implied that 1.) you are the one who put on the pants (or not in this sentence) and 2.) that the pants you would wear are you're own. I could be wrong though, so could someone confirm this?