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- Topic: Italian >
- "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.
yes. some words ending in 'e' are masculine and some are feminine. In this case it's masculine, so when it's plural it becomes i cognomi
- 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).
Why does this use a different structure from "Come si scrive"? I would think the answer should be "Come ci scriviamo..."
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).
Only in the sense of "Do it like this" and never in the sense of "I like your shirt."
In what kind of situation would you ask this question? Why would "we" write a someone's surname differently than someone else?
To put it differently, is this just another quirky Duolingo sentence, or is there a meaning that I've missed?
- 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 :-)
Alright, thanks for your reply. So the question asks for the correct spelling? Does it mean the same as "Come si scrive..."?
- 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?
Generally, when using possesive adjectives you need to use the article unless refering to direct family.
Is there anyone who can help me with the question"Come scriviamo il suo cognome" if i translate it into english, it can be his surname or her surname?
- 992
Only context will tell.
The gender of Suo/sua/suoi/sue matches the thing possessed, not the owner
Why do we need to write "Il suo cognome" in this sentence instead "suo cognome without "il"?
All possessive noun phrases must have the definite article, unless it's a singular close family member.
- 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?
No, it doesn't apply to the word for "name", just singular unmodified family members, like madre, padre, sorella, fratello, etc. And the fact that more than one person uses it does not make it plural. Many people can share one single thing. It is still one name.
Why cant i say ...la sua cognome? Does this not make more sense as it's about a woman? Not sure i understand!
Possessives in Italian are like all other adjectives. They must agree with the noun they go with. "il cognome" is masculine, so all modifiers that go with it must be in masculine form, including possessives. It doesn't matter whose it is.
This has been discussed on this page before.
Come scriviamo il suo cognome?
It's the il suo. The possessive needs to agree with the thing possessed, just like any other adjective. It's irrelevant whether the owner is male or female.
I decided to specify that it's, "her," surname by writing out: Come scriviamo il suo cognome di lei
And that was marked incorrect. Is it outright wrong or just unnecessary because in context you'd probably know that you're talking about, "her," whoever she is?
Thank you!
It's either "il suo cognome" or "il cognome di lei", but not "il suo cognome di lei".
