"Non sei una donna, bensì una ragazza."
Translation:You are not a woman, but a girl.
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Interesting. Can you elaborate on that? I believe "bensi" is not a common word and "ma" is much more usual, but if there is a pattern to when bensi is used that would help me a lot.
"Bensi: cong. ma piuttosto, ma invece, ma anzi (con valore avversativo DOPO UNA FRASE NEGATIVA; anche preceduto da ma rafforzativo): non mi pare sciocco, bensì svogliato; non hai ragione tu, bensì lui; non fui io, ma bensì lui che lo offese | ( non com.) tuttavia, però, peraltro (con valore limitativo): gli dissi di no, bensì a malincuore "
Sorry, I am not a native speaker. I have found these 4-5 examples. As you can see the first sentence is always a negative one (una frase negativa) and the word "bensi" is used only after a negative sentence with the meaning "but". Non hai raggione tu= you are not right, bensi lui= (but) he (is right). Bensi=ma , but it cannot be used generally. Take it easy, we do not have to know all of the rules to be able to speak a language.
Bensì is something that we don't really have a consistent translation for in English, but I always use "but rather". But it essentially follows a "Not a but rather b" pattern. A parallel but does exist in other languages. It is sino in Spanish, bensì in Italien and sondern in German. I would assume it also exists in languages that I don't speak as well
you can use "bensì" only after a negative sentence, but you can always use "ma". As a native speaker i have never heard somebody use "bensì" in any conversation tho
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For those who know a little Spanish, it's simillar to "sino" - No eres una mujer, sino una niña.
That's probably a closer match, but it's also like the German word sondern. Ich bin kein Mann, sondern eine Frau.
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From my understanding:
Bensi is like 'but rather' And ma is like 'but'
Rather' is like 'instead of'; and using the word, 'but' is like 'except' and allows it to become a negative, in one conjoined sentence rather than a separate one.
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But itself, introduces a negative statement.
Bensì = bene + sì and means, 'but, rather' Rather - which in turn, means its not comparable; that there is a preference to the choice - an introduction to a contraindication. Introduces the negative statement.
I don't like tea but, rather milk.
Ma means 'but-' (buten, butan, buute) = be- +out (outside of, without, except). Introduces the negative.
I would like to give you milk but, we have none.
'Oh thats okay, i am thirst but, i will wait - i would have tea but, rather would have milk.'
Brevity (shortening of sentence) helps keep the reader/listener engaged - less long winded.
'Oh that's okay, i will wait - i am thirsty but, rather prefer milk."
They will, wait until the end of time if they want the moo juice.
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Not altogether unknown in italy - check out the word "gerontocrazia". Folk under 40 often thought too young for any form of position/responsibility - an age at which some of that same gerontocrazia would, in their day, have been looking forward to an imminent pension.
Bensì after a negative, seems to translate better as. Rather. You are not a womam, rather your are a girl.
I just gave the correct answer "you are not a woman but a girl" and it marked it as wrong. Any idea why ?
Is the 'en' in 'bensi' pronounced normally or is it nasal? I can't tell and don't know if Italian has nasal sounds.
No. French and Portuguese have a lot of nasal sounds, but Italian and Spanish don't.
Italian HAS nasal sounds: n, m, gn, and ng are nasal sounds. What you are trying to say is "nasalized vowels". [ã, õ] etc.
When i translate "but a man" an exercise before was wrong. Correct translation was rather a man. In this exercise I see that "but a girl" in not wrong. I cannot understand.
Never hear this expression used and I have not seen it in any Italian text books
I just entered the correct answer and it marked it wrong. Is it because I missed out the punctuation?
Why is t correct to say "rather" when it is Non sei un ragazzo, bensì il uomo but it is wrong here and it is "but"
Probably because your article on uomo is incorrect. It's not 'il uomo'. It's "l'uomo".
And on second thought, it shouldn't be THE at all. It's supposed to be A/AN, therefore 'un uomo'.
When I used" but" for the sentence ' I am not a boy but a man ' duo gave rather as an optionand when I used rather here it marked me wrong ! Help
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why isn't .... rather I am a girl ... accepted, it's perfectly good English if somewhat 'florid'...?
Well you included the wrong subject pronoun for the meaning of the sentence, (it's talking about what "you" are not what "I" am), but I think just adding any subject pronoun where none exists in Italian was sufficient to make that a poor translation. To the extent parallel modes of expression are available, they are the best translations.
If the woman is saying this to a female over 16, then she misbehaving with enough immaturity to be considered a girl, not a woman herself!
Why would you assume that was the case or even wonder about it. What does that say about you?
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Whenever i see bensì, i just type 'but, rather' and it accepts ~ helps not confuse it with ma which is just 'but'
considering there isn't a direct translation for the word "bensi" I believe "but (are) a girl" should be accepted as a correct answer. "But a girl" is technically right on its own but I think "but are" is a more proper way to write this sentence in English.