Interestingly, it gave me credit for a correct answer (though admonished me for missing the accents) when I wrote "net leggo net scrivo".

I wrote "ned" But it accepted LoL

thats exactly what i heard, and i wrote net and it got marked right.

I put Ned, Ned, I still got credit but was corrected for Ne instead. I heard it in the standard speed and typed it out and then I was like let me check again, I listened at normal speed again and hear Ne, but the slower pronunciation was Ned.

I know right

sounds like an audio editing cut

No, not just you; for me, it sounds like "net" too.

I heard that too.

She is definitely saying NET!

Yes, it does sound like "net"! Also accepted nè instead of né!

Sounds like it but the "t" is silent.

If the negative word (né) comes before the verb (as in this case), it replaces the "non." If it comes after (for example, "Non scrivo né lettere né cartoline"), you need the "non" before the verb to mark the sentence as negative.

Think of "nè" as the equivalent of "neither" and "non" as simply "not" and maybe it will make more sense. "I neither read nor write." Meanwhile, "Non leggo e non scrivo." (at least I think that's correct, any constructive criticism is welcome)

It's common in many languages to use a construction such as "né X né Y" to mean "neither X nor Y", which is slightly different from "not X not Y".

Think of né as the "nor" in english. e.g: "I do not drink beer nor wine". :)

I'm not sure, but I think the 'non' needs (to be placed after) an object and the object (io) is missing here.

Non means not. Not isn't in this sentance.

Only if you put a negative elsewhere in the sentence, e.g. I don't read or write. You can put double negatives in Italian but not in English so in a sentence like 'Non voglio né tè né caffè' there are two ways to translate it: 1) I want neither tea nor coffee 2) I don't want either tea or coffee. (P.S. Italian speakers, please correct the sentence above if it's wrong!)

Do not use the word "never." Perhaps on your visit to Italy, you join a play. It is about an illiterate man becoming a teacher. If that does happen, you better hope you were paying attention! Also, you could correct someone who did not say this sentence right! Think positive, my friend! Prego!

I know right. I was just lying by reading and writing that i could do neither.

Although the general meaning is the same I think here they are really trying to teach us the 'neither...nor' construction.

I neither read nor write - the do is an extra verb that doesn't make sense there

Né is always negative. If you were to say: "I neither read nor write." Or "I do not either read or write." , they are both proper sentances. They mean the same thing even though one says "either...or" and the other says "neither...nor". Né would never mean "I either read or write." It must always be negative. Hope this helps:-D.

in texas thats exactly how we say it, but our sentences are broken in sections when we speak so we actually say "i do not read,....NOR write"

This is special because neither and nor only negate one item each, if there are more items, you will have to continue to provide more "nor" for each more item. This form is especially used for listed items. I like neither fish, nor chicken, nor vegetables, nor meat. I like either ice cream or cookies or cake. I neither swim nor ride bicycles nor run, so I guess I won't be doing the triathlon.

Also, if you use "not" you will negate the entire sentence and then you could use "either ...or" with your list and the items would still be negated. I do not like either fish or clams. "either..or..." can be used with "not".

"neither...nor..." is considered a single negative for lists.

To top it off, "Neither" can be used alone, in a second negative statement answering some else's. "One person says "I don't like that." Other person says "Neither do I." showing that they have a similar dislike.

"Nor" can be used to start a second negative clause. "I don't like the way he did that, nor do I appreciate the way he pretended that it didn't matter." In retrospect, the person could say "I neither liked the way he did that nor the way he pretended that it didn't matter.", but when speaking on the fly he may have come up with the first thought and then added the second and it is perfectly correct to do so. http://robin.hubpages.com/hub/Grammar_Mishaps__Neither-Nor_and_Either-Or

I am a native English speaker with a pretty fair knowledge of English grammar. The one place where a double negative is allowed is in the neither_nor combination. The rule is neither_ nor_ or you may say either_ or_. You never say neither_ or (or for that matter either_nor).

no in this case nor is prefered, as for the double negative rule there are several exceptions but this is the most commonly used, unfortunately there is not one single rule in english that is always true. each rule is mainly dependent on when it was introduced and the languages it was borrowed from. in this case nor is prefered because of the way it sounds (Neither Nor, Either Or)

I think the pronunciation examples are just horrible.

Has it been corrected, because it sounds fine to me. Here is an alternate site to listen to pronunciation: http://www.forvo.com/search-it/n%c3%a9%20n%c3%a9/

It sounds correct to me, perhaps it has been fixed. Also you can listen to this site for pronunciation: http://www.forvo.com/search-it/n%c3%a9%20n%c3%a9/

Try listening here: http://www.forvo.com/search-it/n%c3%a9%20n%c3%a9/

Try listening here: http://www.forvo.com/search-it/n%c3%a9%20n%c3%a9/

Accent acute: né, sé (da sé = hiself): open pronunciation Accent serious (grave in italian): è (verbo essere), caffè, bebè or farò, potrò. Closed pronunciation. Only on the last vocal (not like French !). The difference is very small (many italians do not know this, so don't worry !). If the final vocal is a, i, u, only accent serious (grave) : libertà

The sounds are similar, but the stress is different:

Né leggo né scrivo: ne-LEG-go-ne-SCRI-vo

Nelle gonne scrivo: NEL-le-GON-ne-SCRI-vo.

Hi Ashp. Unfortunately the metal voice clearly says "net" which is very confusing for many. It has been reported many times but years later it stays as Net. I won't add to the né né discussion as this has been covered. Ciao.

"I neither read nor write" is the correct answer. There is no "do" in Duo's answer. Its a tough one but we get there in the end. Best wishes.

Because that is not what it means. The answer is "I neither read nor write".

If you said "Io non leggo o scrivo.", someone would understand it, but they wanted you to translate it more directly.

In the exercises it's always better to be more literal. Duo wants us to learn certain things. Of course often there are other ways of writing but here write what you see.

Keep in mind also that when you use "and" instead of "or" or "nor" that you change the concept. Now with "and" you are saying that you do not do both, but it has now become possible that maybe you are able to do one of those but not both. Whereas, with "nor" or "not....or" you are not able to do either one or to put it another way, you can do neither.

That answer is correct...

It's because the verb is "leggo" (io leggo) which means "I read". In Italian you don't need to put the "io" ('I"} because you know from the "o" on "leggo" that it means "io".

Have you seen these sights for newcomers. http://duolingo.wikia.com/wiki/Frequently_asked_questions http://www.duolingo.com/comment/1352379

If you have any questions come to the comments for help.

'neither' sticks very tightly to the thing it alters, so 'neither I' would alter I .. as if in this example .. 'Neither I nor you write.' So for 'neither' to modify the verb 'read' in this sentence it needs to precede the verb immediately.

It's just not English as we speak it !

You can also say "I neither read nor write.", but "I can neither read nor write." would be another sentence in Italian: "Io né posso leggere né scrivere."

Né leggo né scrivo - here né.... né mean "neither... nor". You may be thinking of something like "Non ne abbiamo" = we don't have any of them. Incidentally the confusing "net" sound instead of "ne" has been reported many many times so hopefully it will be fixed one day. Enjoy your learning...

If "né" is before the verb (as in this sentence), you don't need "non." If "né" is only after the verb, you need "non" to mark the sentence as negative. It works this way for all the negative expressions (nessuno, mai, etc.).

As for the sound, we are aware that for "né" it is slightly off, but unfortunately the only thing we can do is disable the sound for the sentence, which only means that you will not have to transcribe it. The voices come from a third-party site, so course contributors can't do much about them. We can't fix the sound. For this sentence, though, it sounds like it is only affecting the slow recording, at least.

Here is an alternate site to listen to pronunciation: http://www.forvo.com/search-it/n%c3%a9%20n%c3%a9/

are you sicilian?

What did you put? Here in the discussion, we have not seen what you have put so now we cannot help you. Scroll up and down through all the discussions to see if you put one of the same things that someone else did and you may find an explanation. A perfectly good English sentence, may or may not be an exact translation of the Italian sentence shown here.

I think that if it says "io non mangio né pollo né frutta" it would mean " I do not eat either chicken or fruit." Né is always negative, but depending on how it is worded, it could mean either or.

That is wrong.

In English English, American English, or any other kind of English. See my post below. You are confusing it with people who use "Not" before "Neither/nor".

"I have not neither money nor time" - is wrong, because as you say, it is a double negative - BECAUSE THE WORD "NOT" APPEARS BEFORE NEITHER/NOR. This also goes for "I haven't neither..." - the contracted form of not is also a double-negative. "I have neither money nor time" is correct, and is not a double negative.

The rule is simple: Neither ALWAYS goes with Nor. It is not a double-negative. Either ALWAYS goes with Or. Using "Not" before Neither/Nor is a double negative and is incorrect.

I have cited my references below. If you have a reference, please provide it.

Challenge accepted ;)

I don't think I understand what you mean. Clarify for me, if you wouldn't mind: Do you mean to say that "Neither read nor write" stands alone on its own without explicitly stating the subject? When I read that sentence, it sounds like a command, which is one of the few instances where you can leave out the pronoun. It's the difference between saying "I take out the trash" and "Take out the trash": one is a statement, the other is a command. Otherwise, you need to include the pronoun "I" so you know who your subject is.

"Nè leggo nè scrivo" stands alone fine on its own because in Italian, the subject "io" is understood by the conjugated verbs. Our grammatical structure in English doesn't allow for this. So unless I've totally misunderstood what you're asking, you cannot leave out the subject pronoun "I" in your sentence.