"More than one in five are without water."
Translation:Più di uno su cinque è senz'acqua.
10 Comments
why is it 'e senz'acqua' rather than 'sono senz'acqua'? Particularly since the English translation says 'are', not 'is'?
I am very curious about the use of a singular verb "è" with "più di uno." That construction should scream PLURAL, even to an Italian, I would think.
I try to respond.
In Italian the expression "più di uno è" è giusto.
I think that you have to apply not a logical approach, but a grammatical one. "più di" seen from its function in a sentence can be an adjective or adverb.
Normally if you have to determinate the form of a verb, you only have a look at the subject and not at the adjectives or adverbs. So if "uno" is the subject you have to chose "è".
Greetings Sandra
2081
I put "Più di uno in cinque sono senza acqua" which was marked wrong for "in" and "sono".
I presume Italians would literally say "more than one on five is without water"?
It means "out of" (or "in," which is closer to the English usage), as in "One out of five of us got it right." Just another Itialianism. See 12Aurora34's comment above.
In English this is correct grammer: More than one in five are without water. It would be incorrect if it read: More than one in five is without water. In Italian, I wrote: Piu di uno su cinque sono senza acqua--meaning: More than one in five are (sono) without water. I do not know why the Italian language would use "is" (e) than sono (are). Please clarify. Thank you.
