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- "How do we write her surname?"
"How do we write her surname?"
Translation:Come scriviamo il suo cognome?
42 Comments
992
Italian 101:
Verbs already contain the subject in them so that io, tu, lui, lei... don't need to be expressed.
This implies that when you use the personal pronoun as a subject, then you put extra emphasis on it.
So adding noi here would be like saying 'how do we, and not you, write ...'
992
Because cognome is a masculine word.
"Suo/sua/suoi/sue" refers to the gender of the things that is possessed, not to the gender of the possessor.
992
You would need to rework the sentence. Suo does not carry any info about the gender of the possessor.
Ex. Come scriviamo il cognome di Maria?
992
only (and I strongly underline 'only') if you really really really want to emphasise that it's hers. In a real life situation you will not say suo... di lei.
Even in that case, you'd probably omit suo (come scriviamo il cognome di lei).
Come si scrive = how does one write (this word, the famous person's name...)
Come scriviamo = how do we write (this word, the famous person's name...)
Come ci scriviamo = how do we write (to one another, for one another...)
Pronouns are pretty complex because they rarely follow one single rule. Sometimes just getting used to the way they work is more effective than memorizing lists of rules.
992
In this case "si" is not a reflexive pronoun (eg "lui si lava"; "lei si veste") but an indefinite pronoun which means "one", "you" (ex "qui non si parla di politica", one does not talk about politics here).
992
Well, there are countless situations where the spelling of a word can be difficult, especially with names. English speaking countries have spelling bee contests for that reason :-)
394
How do we know when to put "suo" and when to put "il suo". I have been losing hearts both ways- for putting in "il" and for leaving out "il". What's the rule?
992
Only context will tell.
The gender of Suo/sua/suoi/sue matches the thing possessed, not the owner
346
Oh, now that makes Sense! I have been baffled by this because I did not use il mio figlio or il mia sorella and git it correct, but this called for a 'il" because it belongs to many people (cognome), not singular, but more like a plural. Is my reasoning correct??? But how about "il mio nome"; would that be correct as well?