"The cats are on the couches."
Translation:I gatti sono sui divani.
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239
It would not be sulle because "sulle" is the feminine form - su + le. Sofà is masculine. That's why it is il sofà / i sofà. So you would need the su + i contraction which is sui. Therefore "sui sofà."
the sofa = il sofà or il divano
the sofas = i sofà or i divani
in italian the words with the stress on the last syllable are invariable from the singular form to the plural form
the city, the cities = la città, le città
the tribe, the tribes = la tribù, le tribù
the igloo, the igloos = l'iglù, gli iglù
1254
I put 'divani' for couches, and it marked me right, but it is not one of the options, and in fact all the options are words I haven't heard of or come across. What's the idea behind this thinking??
1342
Yes, although that is comparing the Italian->English "on the" to the French->English "on". Sul and sui are combined forms of su + li and of su + i. In French the sur and the definite article that follows stay apart. It is the definite article that changes with the object, in both languages.
To recap: (Italian) su = (French) sur
(Italian) Su combined with any of il, la, lo, gli i, le = (French) sur and then separately any of le, la, les
1342
Sui is better:
Sopra is (somewhere) above (the couches).
Sui is (resting right) on top of (the couches).
Im incredibly confused on how Italian sentences are verbally structured - do Italians have to really think ahead before phrasing every single sentence or is speaking Italian incorrectly more forgiving when using the wrong plural or singular words in a full sentence?
E.g. in order to use "i gatti" i would have to know first hand, that I need to use the words "sui divani" at the end of the sentence, otherwise I could have incorrectly used "le gatte sono" and only once I've reached the end of the sentence realise i infact need to end my sentence with "sui divani", making my entire verbal sentence: "le gatte sono sui divani" and grammatically incorrect.
I hope im making sense? Writing Italian gives the advantage of going back and correcting errora but the same cannot be applied to speaking - so is it more common/acceptable to use the wrong purals/singular words when speaking? *Nov 2020
The subject and object in a sentence don't need to agree, don't worry! I don't think Duo ever explained this but "gatto" is for a male cat and "gatta" a female cat! You can't do this with all animal words, but there are a few that do change ending for the gender. Like how some jobs do- "architetto" for a male architect and "architetta" for a female. So you'd use "i gatti" for male cats (or a mix of male and female) and "le gatte" for female cats :)
1342
Su + i => sui, which already includes the i.
You can look into this more by delving into the subject of prepositions combining with definite articles.