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- "Lui è l'ingegnere, lei l'arc…
"Lui è l'ingegnere, lei l'architetto."
Translation:He is the engineer, she is the architect.
64 Comments
actually, the definite article is not used when talking about professions in general in English. It should be at least allowed to write He is an engineer....
Since the program allows flexible translations of so many things where the literal translation does not conform to normal usage, I would think this would be easily accepted. Because otherwise you end up focusing more on learning how to answer questions rather than learning the answers for questions.
"He is an engineer" would have a different translation in Italian ("Lui è [un] ingegnere."). This also has a different meaning (being an engineer is his job, rather than him being the specific engineer). This is perfectly normal usage. Think of it as the answer to the question, "Who is working on the project?" "He is the engineer..." "An engineer" and "the engineer" aren't interchangeable in either the English or the Italian.
An older form of response to this was my answer: "He is an engineer, she an architect. The 'is' is understood, and 'the' is not needed, UNLESS you are talking about her being the ONLY architect. Grammar sometimes has to give way to idiomatic constructs.
289
I agree with Mavry below, and just want to add that 'He is an engineer...' would be 'Lui è un ingegnere....' which was not said in here.
To be fair, one could use the definite article in a certain situation. For example..
"So, we'll have to talk to Jack about the square footage on the third floor."
"How many times do I have to tell you, he's the engineer, she's the architect."
- 22
I think if you use the indefinite instead of the definite article, you'd have to use verb to be "è" in the second sentence because "engineer"/"artichet" then would be unknown.
In the previous question, the definite article was translated with "a" - it would help if duolingo was consistent.
I just learned that "faccio il architetto" is different from "sono il architetto". Fare needs the definite article, essere does not. So the first means "i am an architect" while the second emphasises "I am the architect "
Most professional nouns seem to be gendered (dottore/dottoressa, scrittore/scrittrice etc.), so why not this one? Is it just one of those arbitrary things?
A bit of digging suggests that although opinion is divided, several authorities do recognise the feminine form of architetto: http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110115025200AAI9AeI
I will be explicit, tetta means tit. You can't address a woman calling her signora architetta. She will think that you are kidding.
Teta in portuguese also means tit, yet we do not call a woman an "arquiteto", but an "arquiteta". If we did so we would be calling her a man. I think the original sentence is wrong, it really should be "architetta", since the pronoun "lei" indicates that the gender of the person we are speaking about is feminine.
If you added accents in Portuguese, it would be têta and arquitéta – different sounds, like tit and architect in english.
In italian, however, architetta apparently ends in the same sound as "tetta".
- 998
It's been explained several times before. Lei è in architetto is correct Italian. lei è un'architetta is still questionable, yet not wrong per se.
apart from this, there are lot of other professional nouns which are traditionally used only in the male form (sindaco,avvocato, assessore). Nowadays somebody starts questioning this status quo. (http://www.lastampa.it/2012/05/19/societa/e-l-ora-della-sindaca-e-dell-architetta-ly2hjaWIyeUiMMUvVwdwqJ/pagina.html)
This is funny yet tragic. It seems like you guys are 5th graders that just learned that tetta means tits, and therefore avoid using it because you giggle when you hear the word.
Isn't the verb required in the second phrase? - lei è l'architetto. I thought that in Italian you can't drop verbs even obvious ones, like we can in English.
- 998
You would drop the verb in English too. He is the engineer, she the architect. I am curious: what are other cases when you would drop the verb in English but not in Italian?
Sorry, I can't see it. At the moment the sentence reads:
"Lui è l'ingegnere, lei l'architetto." (copy-pasted from the top)
"She the architect" sounds completely wrong to me. "She IS the architect" Native English speaker.
this gets marked as incorrect when you write "è" before the second profession--shouldn't this also be correct?
I guess, this should be translated as " lui è l'ingegnere lei è l'architetto"
It makes sense if, say, an investor is inquiring about the team in charge of a project. "Yes, sir...he is the engineer, she the architect," but that's like the only scenerio i can think of where it's not completely awkward.
Interesting that tetto means roof and tetta means tits. Very big mistake to make if your pronunciation is bad.
Do I change the adjective to masculine? Example: Lei e un architetto creativo. Sorry, I don't have the accent sign on my phone.
- 998
The adjective (= qualifier) is in the same gender and number as the noun. So lei è un architetto creativo even if we are referring to a lady. The other way around is also true, when you have a noun whose gender is only feminine (like la guardia): la guardia è attenta even if it refers to a man.
He is the engineer, she "is" the architect. Now where the "is" came from i did not see "è" in Italian.
I'm a native Spanish speaker & in Spanish we do say "arquitecta" for a female but for instance "pilot" has no feminine in Spanish, it's always "piloto". Is "architetta" correct?
- 998
There is actually quite a debate in Italy about feminine forms for some professions that were typically male. While pairs such as maestro/maestra, dottore/dottoressa, infermiere/infermiera are normal, othes are not so widespread. For example: ministro/ministra, sindaco/sindaca/sindachessa are fighting to earn their place in everyday language. architetta is not wrong, yet not so common, especially because of how it ends.
In my opinion, Duolingo should take a vanguardist position and translate architect (f) as "l'architetta". It's not our problem if people in Italy have an issue with the word tits. Other languages, as portuguese and spanish, have already overcome this. If you have a problem with the word tits, you're the problem. Grow up. Seriously.
We accept "l'architetta" if you are translating this sentence to Italian, but "l'architetto" is still the most common feminine form, so it's good to learn it. Every language has adapted to women entering traditionally male professions in different ways. French also uses male forms to refer to females in some professions, as does Spanish, so Italian is by no means an exception. Will this change in the future? Perhaps. But here we have to go with how the language works now.
- 998
Well, it is your issue as you are supposed to learn the language spoken in Italy, not some idealized version of it.
I think that, given how awkward the literal translation is and how much better the slight variations are, this sentence is not a good way to introduce the new vocabulary.
We should focus on the italian words not the english ones. They should fix that
- 504
Is this gendery correct question Duo? Just kidding, hate that mumbo jumbo, everyone should do whatever they like .)
Yay Duo! * when your profession actually comes up first in the lesson *. (Followed by the clown o.0 Oh well).
My two cents for the debate of whether the use of "the" is appropriate here: I'd say yes, it is. Examples such as those that mmseiple and PeterSoda have already given do actually come up quite often IRL.
In the lesson was explained that the verb essere is followed by inderterminated article....
So l'architetta is wrong? Come on, this is totally against the tips. In italian the proffesions take the gender, like we do in Spanish. The explanation the end means tit is stupid and childish
I put in: He is the engineer, she is the architect. Another correct solution would be: He is the engineer, she the architect. ???
in the sentence above shouldn't, we use l,architetta instead of l,artchitetto for pronoun "Lei" ?
DL don't accept my translation which is the same "she the architect" it should be "lei è l'architetto" I'am confused.
Is the translation propper English (He Is the engineer, she 'no is' the architect? And why is this right but dropping the is for poth is wrong?
- 321
she (IS) the architect... Lei è l'architetto should be correct as opposed to the incorrect usage here, for the love of decency, change it.
This is not fun when you penalize me for every god damned typo. Im using a god damn phone u know.
