"Perché non le ha parlato al telefono?"
Translation:Why did he not speak to her on the phone?
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Why is " Why didn't she talk to her on the telephone?" wrong? I thought there was no distinction between she or he when using ha!
Can anyone tell us the reason "why did SHE not talk to her on the telephone? " is incorrect?
It is. Because 'parlato' was used. Because there was an object pronoun before the 'ha' that means that if it was a woman was the one 'not talking' then it would be le ha parlata. Lui le ha parlato. (He talked to her) Lei le ha parlata. (She talked to her)
Why isn't "why did he not speak to them on the phone?" correct as well? I'm only level eight and I had previously thought "le" is used solely solely for the feminine plural and that's why I'm a bit confused right know. Can someone explain it to me?
This is the indirect object pronoun 'le' which means 'a lei' or 'to/for her' (depending on context). Here it means 'to her'. If you wanted to say 'to them' it would be 'loro' instead of 'le'.
See http://italian.about.com/library/fare/blfare117a.htm for details.
'le' meaning 'them' (feminine plural) is the direct object pronoun, and is used with transitive verbs. Such as "I invite them" where 'them' is the direct object. Whereas "I talk to her" the her (or in Italian the to her) is the indirect object pronoun.
Specifics on the direct object pronouns are available at http://italian.about.com/library/fare/blfare116a.htm
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Why can't "ha parlato" be translated as "has spoken"? I tried, "Why hasn't he spoken to her on the phone?"
If you put "lei" instead of "le" : "Perché non lei ha parlato al telefono?" = Why didn't she speak on the phone?"
Also, most importantly, "le" is a personal pronoun meaning "a lei (to her)" :
- Le voglio dare un regalo. = I want to give her a present.
masculine form is "gli = a lui = to him" :
- Gli ha detto quello. = He/She told him that.
Thank you. Now I understand.
It would be helpful if Duolingo provided occasional grammar information, before we inevitably get it wrong, for example a list of personal object pronouns in this case
Hey dnovinc, you seem like you have a good handle on this. Can you tell me if I'm correct in thinking that the past participle following avere only has to agree with a direct object, and not an indirect object?
Sorry, I think part of what 'dnovinc' said is wrong. I think "Why didn't she speak on the phone?" ==> "Perché lei non ha parlato al telefono?". If it is 'she' it comes before the 'non', if it is the pronoun 'le' it goes after the 'non'.
Actually, lei would be either at the beginning of the sentence or after parlato.
"Why did he not talk with her on the telephone?" should be correct. The Italian sentence does not use "con," but in English that structure is commonly used.
I agree completely. We speak both 'with' and 'to' people on the phone. They're synonymous. As for UK usage (AncientBat) vs American, I think there's a difference between 'phoning' someone and actually 'talking with/to that person". I mean you could very well phone someone and not actually get to talk with that person because e.g., the person is out or doesn't answer the phone. "He phoned her, but she didn't answer."
The designers of this need to allow the learner to view their past mistakes. You can no longer do this