- Forum >
- Topic: Italian >
- "Compriamo le caramelle allo …
76 Comments
I can't tell the difference between "nello zoo" and "allo zoo". I'm almost sure you guys are gonna tell me that one means "in the " and the other means "at the" but, sadly, I'm not a native English speaker so I don't really know the difference between those two too!
I have the impression that the difference between those is nothing but something gramatical, because it seems just the same.
Please, help me :(((
Firstly, really well done. I can't imagine the difficult of learning one language in another, not my mother tongue.
"Nello zoo" translates in English to "In the zoo", meaning broadly something that is inside the zoo, like the animals, the cages, the ice cream sellers.
"Allo zoo" translates as "To the zoo" meaning going towards the zoo, like walking from your home to get to the zoo.
These Italian terms can and do change their meanings in different circumstances so these comments relate directly only to "Nello zoo" and "Allo zoo" so watch out!
But what about "at the zoo"? What does that "at" mean? xD Also, thank you, I endeavour ^^'
Yes, I guess "Allo zoo" also means "At the zoo". In that case it also can mean in English "I will meet you by or inside the zoo". See even English is complicated for me!
Lol, I always hated those "in", "on", "at" words, omgg, they are so dificult to comprehend XDD
357
As a native English speaker, "at" a place is more about the place in general while "in" a place is specific to inside a location. It's easier to understand if you're talking about something that being "in" is nearly impossible, like "I'll meet you at the big willow tree" instead of "I'll meet you in the big willow tree". It gets a slightly more complicated when you're talking about places that actually have an "indoors". In these cases, "in" literally means inside like "I'll meet you in the bank next to the teller" whereas "at" can mean inside or outside or even next to like "I'll meet you at the bank next to the entrance" which would typically be outside. So "allo zoo" being "at the zoo" could be inside the zoo, outside the zoo or even next to the zoo. Similar to the way that "sono" could refer to I or They, it will depend on the context.
" In the zoo" is more referring to being inside/ a part of ex. the animals in the cages. While "at the zoo also refers to location, it is less of being a part of it, if that makes sense
I only speak English! I had an Italian colleague telling me 'in' and 'on' were hard for him in English too...he always said that he was 'in the bus' but we tend to say you're 'on the bus'. I think its just a matter of learning the exceptions...
The reply to that statement in English, would be, inside or outside. Or shortend, in or out. Thats what an English person would say.
Me imagino que eres hispanohablante, por eso me tomo la iniciativa de escribirte en castellano. En castellano las dos serían "en el zoo", pero la diferencia se basa en que cuando se dice "in the zoo" o "nello zoo" hablamos de algo que permanece allí, sin embargo, cuando hablamos de "at the zoo" o "allo zoo" hablaríamos de una acción que se desarrollara allí puntualmente. Espero haberte ayudado.
I am learning italian through english, even though my native is serbian... I also have learned greek language same way - throughout english...
- 279
It sounds as if the 'r' is silent in Compriamo. Is that correct, or are my ears not properly attuned?
My ears are attuned to Italian and I think the audio is a little off. To me it sound like a cross between "compliamo" and "compriamo". It should sound like "compriamo"
The sounds 'r' and 'l' can sound pretty similar though - especially with a less than perfect computer voice.
Yes, in Italian most nouns used in a sentence are preceeded by 'the'. It's part of the gramatical system.
But there is only one 'the' in the choices. So my answer was "we buy the candies at zoo" I also wanted to put the before the zoo but there was alsokd
But I don't understand why they put articles there if they are not translated "le caramelle" is "the candies" for me, not just "candies"
does "at" and "to" written the same way in Italian? Based on the context, does one need to understand if its "at" or "to"?
- 304
yes, they are written the same way (most of the time)
- Compriamo le caramelle allo zoo = we buy candies at the zoo
- Stiamo andando allo zoo = we are going to the zoo
That was my very question i got here to get an answer to, too. Sadly no one bothered to enlighten us...
This is something that I have noted for my learning of "a"
--------• wiktionary •--------
{ preposition }
1. [ in ]
2. [ at ]
3. [ to ]
4. [ Indicates the direct object, mainly to avoid confusion when it, the subject, or both are displaced, or for emphasis ]
• A me non importa.
• { lit: To me it doesn’t matter. }
• [ It doesn’t matter to me. ]
• A lei non piace, ma a lui piace molto.
• [ She doesn't like it, but he likes it very much. ]
</pre>
•----------••----------•
Esempi
•----------••----------•
2. [ at ]
•----------••----------•
• Sono a pranzo.
• Loro sono a pranzo.
• Siamo a cena.
• Io sono allo zoo.
• [ I am at the zoo. ]
• Compriamo le caramella allo zoo.
• [ ... at the zoo. ]
•----------••----------•
3. [ to ]
•----------••----------•
• Scriviamo ad Anna.
• [ We write to Anna. ]
• Noi andiamo ad Amsterdam.
• [ We are going to Amsterdam. ]
--------{ masculine }--------
• Loro dano l'acqua all'animale.
• [ They give the water to the animal. ]
• La donna scrive all'uomo.
• [ The woman writes to the man. ]
• Lei dà carne al leone.
• [ She gives meat to the lion. ]
---{ al tuo, nostro, vostro }---
• Il ragazzo va al liceo vicino al nostro.
• [ The boy goes to the high school next to ours. ]
• The man meets his girlfriend for breakfast at the diner near your flower shop.
• [ L'uomo incontra la sua ragazza per colazione alla tavola calda vicino al tuo negozio di fiori ]
• ... vicino al suo ufficio
• [ ... vicino al suo ufficio ]
---{ agli uomini }---
• Noi scriviamo agli uomini.
• [ We write to the men. ]
• I ragazzi leggono agli uomini.
• [ The boys read to the men. ]
• Leggiamo agli uomini.
• [ We read to the men. ]
---{ ai ragazzi }---
• Io porto i biscotti ai ragazzi.
--------{ feminine }--------
• Lui scrive alla ragazza.
• [ He writes to the girl. ]
• Loro scrivono alle donne.
• [ They write to the women. ]
• Noi scriviamo alle ragazze.
• [ We write to the girls. ]
• Diamo il pane all'anatra • [ We give the bread to the duck. ]
Hope that helps.
:) KK
In English we often use "candy" as both singular and plural. For instance, kids go to the store and buy "candy", whether it's one thing, or enough to make them sick. Although we do sometimes use the plural ("Johnny, how many of those candies did you eat?), it is more common to use sentence structure that uses the singular ("Johnny, how much candy did you eat?"). Is this true in Italian too? I always want to put "candy" for both singular and plural answers.
To add to this, we say either "I bought a piece of candy" or "I bought candy (many pieces of candy/candy in general)". It would be unnatural to say "I bought a candy." At least in American English.
- 304
I'm italian
For me the word "zoo" is pronounced correctly.
Since it also happens to me to have doubts about the pronunciation of some English words, I suggest you listen here how words are pronounced by native speakers
for me he has a strange accent, I would say american. The correct pronunciation is 'zo'
Wow. Is it just me. I am english speaking. I hear "doh" instead if "zoh" is that because of "allo" ? Fascinating.
Is it correct to say in english: While we are at the zoo, we buy sweets. In Italian: Mentre noi allo zoo, compriamo le caramelle.
I left a message about another line and i didn't get the answer so would anyone pl. Tell me what is the difference between "allo" ,"alle" and "alla". Pls
Allo, alle and alla are used like lo, le ,la, you also have agli, and al. My understanding is that is a joining of 2 words, in this example 'al' meaning 'at' and the definite article for the noun. So we get 'Al' + 'la' = 'Alla' for a feminine singular, 'Al' + 'le' = 'alle' for fem. plural, 'Al' + 'lo' = 'Allo' for words you would normally use 'lo' for (e.g. zoo) The same is so for Nello, nella, nell.
- 127
There is no "the" in all the words you can choose. Only a "his". Please correct the mistake!
- 175
Why not "We buy THE candies at the zoo"? If the wanted to leave out the first "the" why not "Compriamo caramelle...." or would that be incorrect?
allo zoo -- at the zoo (we buy something at the zoo)
nello zoo -- in the zoo (the animal is in the zoo)
allo means 'at the' and 'to the' both. The difference lies in how you are using it in a sentence. For example - 'I am going to the zoo - Io vado allo zoo' and 'I am at the zoo - Io sono allo zoo'
Because in English caramel is a type of sweet not the general name for all sweets candy means all types of sweets
What a terrible english or American accent???? Get italians for god sake!!!
- 375
The masculine voice is clearly saying "doe" -- there is no sound of a zed character at all.
This narrator never pronounces "zoo" in a way that can be understood, it's really not helpful for learning.
Maybe it’s my iPad or Airbuds, but more and more I don’t understand the male voice. Here, for example, even with the slow pronunciation, I don’t hear “zoo”. I hear something like “doe”. I asked my spouse, a native Portuguese speaker who knows some Italian, and he couldn’t understand that word either. This happened with another word yesterday, which frustrated me so much I quit the lesson for the day. Are these legit pronunciation variations, or just a poor quality voice?
Siunds like allo 'jo' to me -very confusing. I don't think of a zoo as a place to buy sweets!
Is it so difficult to pronounce ZOO? Got this wrong as I heard do.........
Unfortunately after listening 6 times still couldn't hear zoo, sounded like jo gio ? Sound quality not good
No.
from would be 'di' or 'da'
'allo zoo' means you are 'at the zoo'. You're not necessarily buying the candy from the zoo, you might be, but you could also be buying them from a friend.
There was a word missing in the exercise: the word "the",so it was impossible to mark in or at the zoo. It is not fair to mark my answer wrong
Is there not enough time or am I to slow? It interrupts before I can say the hole sentence.
In England, we usually say 'sweets' and not 'candies' but this was marked as incorrect.
Brasileiro, né?
Parece passado, mas não é... da mesma forma como no Português, temos "compramos" que pode ser passado ou presente de longo termo, como por exemplo "sempre que podemos, compramos caramelos no zoológico"
A minha dúvida é se no Italiano, este verbo no passado é também escrito desta forma, como no Português...
mmmm monkey poo is my favourite flavour. What did you get Beth? Veth: I got a drink instead. Zebra piss!
