"No, the woman says."

[peteraasch]

I answered "No, la donna dice", and it was considered wrong. Why is that?

[italikaren]

Me too I wonder, because in English, you could say "the woman says" or "says the woman". Both work.

[Steinor]

i wonder the same thing it drives me crazy !

[Muttley_]

I think the "no" should have been in quotes as this is reported speech : '"no", the woman says'.
Italian sometimes moves the subject around to stress it. In this case, the speaker wants to stress that the woman said "no" and a way to do it is to move the subject from it's natural place.

[nprovenz]

this one is interesting since the subject is not just 'lei' but 'la donna' my question is why does the subject come after the verb here? thanks!