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- Topic: Italian >
- "Lui capisce le donne."
102 Comments
"If you don't give my boss what he wants, you will be sleeping with the fishes, Capisce?" :P
Not 'capisce', which is pronounced cah-pee-she, but 'capisc', which is pronounced cah-peesh. Dialect from Naples frequently drops the last syllable. Similarly 'ricotta' becomes 'ricot'. Note the accent is where it would be if the last syllable were still there: cah-PEESH(-e), ree-COHT(-tah).
Someone needs to watch more episodes of The Sopranos! ;-)
I see the resemblance. But that is Ron Swanson, the libertarian exemplar of manliness! I gave you a lingot so you can buy bacon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0m-6I2BpXA
Ain't nobody got time for that! Google is your friend, amico :P Btw we were talking Standard Italian. So it would seem all those films all use the Napoli dialect then lol :D
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"Those films" do tend to be about people whose ancestors are from southern Italy and Sicily.
Nope, just trying to show the typical Mafia line like that in Hollywood films. I mean, I heard it a lot in movies including the Spanish "comprende".
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Yes, I know what you meant... I'm quite familiar with those movies :) What I mean is when they say, "Capisce" to the person, shouldn't it be "capisci" (grammatically speaking)? Like is it TECHNICALLY said wrong in the movie? Anybody understand what I'm trying to say?
no it's not. you use the third form to be more polite. in the case with the mafia it might not be politeness but to express certain distance to the person.
It is definitely "capisci" but what I have researched that it's American slang. I suppose it is technically wrongly said. It's no surprise.
I disagree. you can use both forms to directly speak to a person. the way you address them is different though. 2nd person singular is with "tu" and third form is with "il signore / la signora..." although you can spare the noun. so capisce isreferring to il signore / la signora and capisci to tu.
How do you know if it's 'he understands women (as an entire species)' or 'he understands the women (that we were just talking about)'? Is it entirely based on context?
Yes, it is based on context. Almost always in Italian, the definite article (the) is placed before a noun (there are a few exceptions). For example if you said "I want to go to university" in Italian, it's literal translation into English would be "I want to go to THE university". This can be annoying in Italian since it means he might understand women as a species or there might be a group of French women that have ended up in China and nobody else can speak French but he can so he understands them. Who knows?
As all men know, it is impossible to understand women. Of course that is part of their allure. Cosi' e' la vita
Why isn't this translated as, "he understands the women" (meaning a specific group of women)? In English," he understands women" means something different. And how is THAT said in Italian )? Is it "Lui capisce donne"?
Prepare to have your mind blown, lads: Each woman is different. With this knowledge, you won't understand women any better, but the world will make a bit more sense.
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Would "he understands women" also be correct? They are different things in English, but can Italian express the difference?
Why is " he understands the women" wrong?! Really I can't understand this app! :/
