34 Comments
I think you are on the right track.
It has occured to me through an analogy to my native language (which is not a romance language, but often works far better than English for understanding Italian) that ancora means still in positive semtences, but is better translated as yet in negative sentences and probably questions.
910
I think you're wrong. The meaning of "not even" seems to be slightly different from "still not". In my humble opininon, your sentence sounds a bit more.. aggresive? "still not" is a bit more neutral in meaning. I guess.
Should "she's not thirty anymore" be correct ? I know that literaly "anymore" is different from "ancora" but the idea of these words in this case is basically the same (?)
- 1262
I noticed that another correct response was one that used "still". Duolingo collaborators, take note that in English, "still" is never used in negative sentences. It is always replaced by "yet".
I spoke the whole sentence out loud - correctly - the verbal part of these lessons often doesn't work well.
- 224
Yeah refuses to accept me saying "trent'anni" in the spoken exercise - no matter how I do it.
I agree. It asked me to translate into english and I put 'She is not still thirty', because that's what the word order seemed to suggest. Weird that reversing those two words makes a big difference in the meaning and in my number of hearts.
The fact that in English still needs to be in a certain place doesn't necessarily mean that ancora has to be in the same one. Different languages may have different rules on word order.
I suggest you carefully read Flysalot's comment above.
If you want to use the contracted form, it should be:
She still isn't thirty years old
- 18
Switching the place of 'not' and 'still' does not alter the meaning, and should be acceptable.
- 73
It makes a big difference. 'She is still not 30' means she is younger; 'she is not still 30' means she is older. I got it wrong and, like Craig, I would like to know how to say the other one so that I can see the difference in Italian?
- 867
It's a compound. Trenta + anni is put together. You do the same for Dove+è.
Again, a missed opportunity on this system to explain the significance of the word order and/or negatives, since to an English reader 'she is not still 30' seems a reasonable translation.
I translate the Italian to be "she has not still 30 years".... its seems odd to me. It seems that "ancora" is in an odd grammatic position.
- 1408
Generally, adverbs (in this case "ancora") go directly after the verb. It is fairly consistent in Italian sentence structure, even though sometimes it doesn't feel intuitive to native English speakers.
In English this doesn't make sense. You do not say this. It should be 'she is not even 30 years old' or 'she is not 30 anymore' depends on what you want to state.
- 73
Based on what yuioyuio says above this sentence should be 'not yet' or 'not even'. I agree with you that 'still not' is not an English way to say this. I am still not sure whether this really is the intended meaning. I would love an Italian speaker to confirm that the meaning is that she is younger than 30.
I originally answered this with "she is not still 30 years old" - my meaning being she is older than that now. Since reading the comments I've realised I've read it wrong. It means she in younger than 30, and my "still" is in the wrong place. The problem is, my answer was accepted. Had I not checked the comments I would have gone on believing this could mean something it cannot, right? In no situation could "lei non ha ancora trent'anni" mean "she is no longer 30 years old", sì?
- 161
"Not still" or "Stilll not" - is there enough difference to render one incorrect?
- 73
She is not still 30 would mean she has passed that age and is now older.
She is still not 30 would mean she has not yet reached 30 - so she is younger.
Very big difference in English
