43 Comments
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.
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????
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.
Because we mean: "do i put (on the flame) water for the pasta?". Then, when the water boils, we put the pasta in the water. It's the recipe.
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..
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
465
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." :-)
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!
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.
"I put water for coffee" would be how everyone says it here. NEVER would they add "on"
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.
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.
- 2098
In English we also say "put UP water," so that should be accepted as well. I have reported it.
I have never encountered "put up" being synonymous with "put on" in the informal sense of "putting water on to boil". To "put UP" can mean to erect or raise, to propose, to pretend, to seek election, to lodge for a night or two, to put away or cease using. To put up WITH means to tolerate.
- 2098
Well that's nice that YOU'VE never encountered it, but it's very common, at least here in NYC.
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.
One of the most helpful sentences. I could see using this sentence a lot.
"Put on" it's a special phrase in English, which conected with the parts of clothes. Example: put on a jacket. So usually it doesn't us in the meaning "make something ready for"
