"Metto su l'acqua per la pasta."
Translation:I put on water for the pasta.
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It took me a bit of time to figure out, but I interpreted as turning on the water in order to make pasta. It's a very literal translation.
"Metto su l'acqua per la pasta" is an idiomatic phrase. It means taking a pot, filling it with water, putting it on the stove and lighting the fire under it.
It doesn't mean to get the water ready for, it means to put in on the fire.
I listened 40 times.....sounds like he say Metto su l'acqua terla or perla or something similar and then very clearly la pasta............it should be PER )(like a pear} per...............la pasta but that's not what he said....He said perla.........cheeze................will I ever get this????
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I wouldn't have understood this at all if there wasn't a similar idiomatic phrase in Czech.
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It's an idiomatic expression--just the same as when we "put the water on to boil." Happily, we're not wearing the water. ...if we're careful.
Idiomatic expressions should be explained firstly, before putting it in exercises :(
'Mettare su' is a phrassal verb (a unit/a set) and you don't want to separate its elements.
What is "I put on water" supposed to mean? I don't think it's common in English
For those non native english speakers - i am english, and would always say " i put on water" or "i have put on the water" (for the pasta) it means the pan with water to be boiled/heated has been put on the hob/oven/heat, and the heat is on.... Hope that makes sense..
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In german there is the same construct: "Wasser aufsetzen". In this excercise: "Ich setze Wasser für die Pasta auf". Quite similar, just splittet.
Thank you, I thought it must have been "put in", like "I put the water in the pan"... ^this makes sense, thanks :D
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I think it's a Southern European cultural thing. In Portuguese we have the expression "Meter água ao lume" ... which translates to "To put water on the fire." :-)
Its quite common in English to say "I put on the water" if it's in context........I put on the water for tea, or coffee, or pasta, or even in the 50s, I put on the water for a bath (wjen people put water on to boil for the bathtub) either way, I get the phrase, but this guy was not clear in his speech......it definately sounded like he said PERLA la pasta............that threw me.
My Italian mother always said in English: "put on the water for the macaroni" so it was very natural for me and an easy translation!
Not everyone says "I put on water"... it is a regional colloquial thing I think
Both should work in my opinion but: "The water" is of course the more literal translation from the Italian "l'acqua" and that is the way we need to think about how to phrase things in Italian but to translate back into English from Italian we need to think more about what is good English.
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I understand what this is trying to say, but is it actually good Italian? It seems this sentence uses "su" as an adjective rather than a preposition.
This doesn't sound at all as an idiomatic expression. We need to remember the prep. "su" that along with "metto" means "I put on water" with everything this implies. The problem with Duolingo is they neglect to go into specifics and nuances hoping its students are smart enough to get it anyway.
To have a clear understanding of what "idiomatic" means: idiomatic Definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/idiomatic
(of a group of words) having a particular meaning that is different from the meanings of each word considered separately: an idiomatic expression. English Idiomatic also means natural in expression, correct without being too formal: His English is fluent and idiomatic.
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We don't say 'put the water on' for food in Ireland but we might say 'put the water on for a bath' i.e. get the water warm for a bath. We also say 'put the heater on' when it's cold and we used to say quite commonly but less so these days, 'put on the TV/radio' so it's not difficult to see such an expression extending to cooking/hot drinks.
Interesting this phrasal verb has evolved in Italian and from other comments other languages too. Is it just a natural kind of expression or, I can't help wondering as an English teacher, if the common use of English which is a language very fond of phrasal verbs, has been influencing other languages as they have and continue to do to English? Anyone know?
In English we also say "put UP water," so that should be accepted as well. I have reported it.
One of the most helpful sentences. I could see using this sentence a lot.
Re the bath, no, because putting the water on implies you're heating it. With a bath you run the hot tap until the water comes out hot and then run the bath. You don't physically heat the water yourself. You can 'put the boiler on' in order to heat the water for the hot tap though!
Could you say Metto sull'acqua per la pasta? Would it still be correct if I abbreviated it?
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I understand this is an idiom, but comes out of the blue in the challenge at the end of level, it was not featured on any of the lessons before. How silly.