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- Topic: Italian >
- "La donna cena."
127 Comments
OH GOD WHAT HAVE Y...........John Cena bursts through wall and body slams me into my computer smash! WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS!!!!!!!!
I wrote "the woman dines." It was an acceptable answer and a more natural translation.
Yes. And "cena" is in third person verb mode here and so mates well with "dines"
879
Either one would be. "Dines" is acceptable although it would be to stilted for normal conversation.
Because that's just not how we say it in English. You have breakfast, have lunch, have dinner. You have food, but you have a meal.
You are confusing the noun la Cena with the 3rd person singular of Cenare
Hints are just hints, not an answer key. With practice it will get easier
Because to say that you would have to say "the dinner of the woman" which I can't remember how to say right now. This does not say that.
in this case, "cena" is a verb (cenare) and "mangia" is an unnecessary repetition.
"The woman eats" would be "La donna mangia". The word Duo asked you to translate specifically means "eats dinner".
And previously that was the answer they wanted and it was the correct one. Frustrated. Dines, eats. Both are a translation for "cena".
No. "Dines/cena" is specifically "eats dinner".
"Eats" is more broadly defined. "Dines" is more narrowly defined.
cenare = to eat dinner
mangiare = to eat
"The lady has supper" is wrong? i.e. donna only means women? and never 'lady' ? And thank you!
Daniel
La donna specifically means 'woman'. La Signora specifically means 'lady'.
To me (a native English speaker), 'woman' and 'lady' are exact synonyms in English, except the latter maybe sounds slightly more old-fashioned.
It depends on context, but "lady" and "woman" can have different connotations. I (also a native English speaker) don't like the term "lady" outside its use in formal settings. For one thing, it has a shady history of being used to clobber women who don't act according to expectations.
- 1873
You are so right. The history of that word over the last century is interesting. Its use (or non-use) played an important role in women's rights, and I believe continues to do so.
"Dinner" vs "supper" is regional. In some dialects there's a distinction and in some dialects they're synonyms.
What about colazione? Can we say "La donna colazione " for "the woman eats breakfast"?
Apparently not.
Italian has "pranzare" for "to eat lunch" and "cenare" for "to eat dinner", but there is no special verb for "to eat breakfast". It's simply "fare colazione" or "mangiare colazione".
No, because that's the past tense and the prompt is in the present tense. The past tense would be "La donna cenava."
- 715
My main language is not English. There is no Italian-Turkish version of Duolingo. I have to use the Italian-English version.
I'm having trouble understanding the comments. I can not express myself.
After that, I will make my own comments in Turkish.
If you can speak Turkish, please help!
Thank you.
18 july 2019
- 715
"Pranzo"= öğle yemeği
midir
yoksa
"Pranzo"= öğle yemeği yemek
midir?
La donna mangia il pranzo.
La donna ha il pranzo.
La donna il pranzo.
Hangisi doğru?
18 Haziran 2019
The verb "cenare" is conjugated. It's just that the 3rd person singular happens to look like the noun. The verb means "to eat dinner", or "to dine".
Che differenza c'e tra eat dinner e have dinner? Per la colazione qualcuno ha chiesto quake frase è giusta, noi diciamo "fare colazione" non si usa "mangiare la colazione" Ciao a tutti.
In inglese, "to have [food]" è un linguaggio comune che significa "to eat [food]". È più comune dire "to have [food]" che "to eat [food]".
"To make food" è il processo di preparazione.
The verb "cenare" means "to eat dinner" or "to dine", and the 3rd person singular "cena" just happens to look like the noun.
Within the last three questions it asked wm twice 'la donna cena'. The first one was right the second one marked it wrong. WHATS GOING ON???
We are learners in here like you. Even if we were course contributors, we have no way of knowing exactly how the prompt was presented to you or exactly how you answered. You will need to tell us all of those details before we can begin to help you figure out what went wrong.
True synonyms are rare. In these early lessons, it's important to keep distinctions as much as possible.
woman = donna
lady = signora
I would say that's a false distinction but at least I know now. Thanks for clarifying.
It's not false.
A woman is any adult female.
A lady has the added connotation of a little bit more class/sophistication.
It's only a distinction from a class-ridden, paternalistic viewpoint. Otherwise you can use woman or lady interchangeably. Lady is sometimes considered a more polite word, but also causes offence to some feminists with its connotations of class and condescension.
Can "The woman dines" also be another english translation for this sentence? I find it appropriate.
Yep! Cenare - to dine. Io ceno, tu ceni, lei,lui cena, noi ceniamo, voi cenate, loro cenano. Go figure!
Because we don't say "she has the dinner" to mean "she eats dinner", we say "she has dinner".
So the woman can eat dinner but "we" can't? In the "we"-sentence must "have" dinner, not eat it.
Because eating is very generic. "Cenare" is specifically "to eat dinner".
Think of "to dine" in English. "To dine" means "to eat dinner". So in Italian, "cenare" means "to eat dinner" or "to dine".
I thought "La donna cena" meant the woman has dinner, not the woman eats dinner. Wouldn't you need mangiare?
In English, we can say "to have dinner" to mean "to eat dinner", but Italian does not use that idiom.
The verb "cenare" [link] means "to eat dinner" and is a lot like the English verb "to dine". They also have a verb "pranzare" which means "to eat lunch" [link].
Also, this question has been addressed multiple times already in this thread.
- 596
We could of course translate "pranzare" as "to lunch" - la donna pranza = the woman lunches.
No, it is not.
"The woman eats dinner" is a bland, generic statement.
"The woman eats the dinner" highlights a particular dinner, one that was previously specified.
not accepted: the lady dines Dines is one of those formal verbs which would be appropriate to use "lady" instead of woman
The options were no all in English. The voice said donna, and so was the written choice. The choice should have been 'woman' in order to give English translation.
The voice states la donna but the written choice also is donna. It should be woman. The English choices were incorrect.
There is no need to post twice. Also, this is not the place to report such issues. You need to either flag it and select a problem category, or you need to fill out a bug report:
https://support.duolingo.com/hc/en-us/articles/204728264-How-do-I-report-a-bug-
Both are valid. "la cena" is the noun "dinner" and "cenare" is the verb "to eat dinner" or "to dine".
http://www.italian-verbs.com/italian-verbs/conjugation.php?parola=cenare
io ceno
tu ceni
lui/lei cena
noi ceniamo
voi cenate
loro cenano
i wrote "the woman dines" and got it marked wrong, that's what we would say (English English)
I put "eats her dinner" which as an English translation I think should be correct, since it means the same as "eats dinner." Reporting.
No, this sentence is simply saying that she's eating dinner. No one said it was her dinner that she is eating. ;)
Well, I did. And that's what we do here. Report. And more to the point, one translation equivalent is hardly ever enough.... !!
Come on, we're not here to make perfect natural English translations.
Right. We're here just to make abstract linguistics. I voted myself up, by the way, and killed the negative vote.
abstract linguistics? just because something doesn't translate perfectly to your liking? Italian is structured way different than English...fyi
Looks like you missed my irony, since by "abstract linguistics" I am referring to literal translation. You need to learn that the point of "translation" is often NOT to be literal. The English version is more accurate when it reflects USAGES, that's the point, that often make better translations than a literal one. Get a clue. That is often the case in any language. Another point here is to translate to English, not Italian, which you apparently didn't notice. Such a pleasure.
The point that happypeoplekill was trying to make 7 months ago is that when translating, you never assume a narrative that's not in evidence. By translating "La donna cena" as "She eats her dinner", you are adding extra information that was never in the original. "She eats her dinner" does not mean the exact same thing as "She eats dinner". I'll grant they mean very similar things, but "She eats her dinner" is much more specific than "She eats dinner".
That'll teach blueste1! I also feel like a complete fool. However, your words of inspiration have moved me to tears. I'm looking forward to what adventures await me on the next screen; perhaps, "The dog eats the bone", and your pontifications on it's meaning. Maybe the dog eats it's bone.. NO.. so stupid! The dog eats someone else's bone... yes.. wait ugh I lost it. I feel like a lost soul. Please, dispatch thine irony such that I may pluck it from the air like an autumn leaf. To have missed it, shall, I fear... be the end of me.
Uses eww ats as the first definition. Says i should have used dines. Make up your mind
Mangiare is "to eat" whereas the more direct translation here would be "to dine" since it is dinner-exclusive.
No, it isn't. "Cenare" means "to eat dinner/to dine". It's just that the 3rd person singular happens to be a homonym with the noun "dinner". It's the came thing with "cucinare" (to cook) and "cucina" (he/she cooks; kitchen).
''The woman dinner' ?? To me: 'La donna mangia cena' should translate to 'The woman eats dinner" Interestingly when DL reverses the question: "The woman has dinner" the italian is "La donna cena" no mention of 'eats' - I know Italian to English is not a word-to-word translation but this isn't even close.
Please read the other comments in a thread before posting.
"Cenare" is a verb that means "to eat dinner; to dine". The 3rd person singular just happens to take the same form as the noun "dinner".
http://www.italian-verbs.com/italian-verbs/conjugation.php?parola=cenare
io ceno
tu ceni
lui/lei cena
noi ceniamo
voi cenate
loro cenano
Since there doesn't appear to be a DL teacher all comments are simply opinions - well meaning as some may be. And these opinions from seemingly knowledgeable individuals often contradict each each other so it is difficult to ascertain which one is correct or at least 'most correct'. So no I will not refrain from posting even if I have read all the comments. Having said that your above explanation is very helpful - more than most. Thank you.
I put the woman does not eat dinner. Why am i wrong? No one eats John Cena...
Without the verb "to eat", in proper English the translation would be "The woman dines", but this is wrong in American English.
It's less common in American English than "The woman has dinner.", but it's not wrong.
