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- "Con certa gente non lavoro."
50 Comments
I tried "Although certain people don't work" cause that's what I got hovering. I think without context some of these sentences are difficult.
In this case, "con" means "with" (the first option when hovering, at least now). Additionally, "lavoro" is the first person singular (I work) present tense conjugation of "lavorare" (to work), so the "work" is done by "me" not by the "certain people" (third person plural) in the sentence. If the "certain people" were working, you would use "lavorano". So the direct translation, keeping the same word order as the italian is: "With certain people I do not work", which is awkward in English, and we would reorder it to say: "I do not work with certain people"
I wish I could get a handle on Italian word order! It seems so different from English.
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I think a good rule of thumb is to look for the verb and the subject of the verb first, then translate the sentence, and then fiddle with the word order to make it sound good English!
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It also helps if you can imagine things from a more passionate Italian perspective, where emphasis (accompanied with vigorous hand gestures) defines the sentence structure as much as grammar rules.
"With certain people, I do NOT work!"
I believe it’s because “gente” is feminine singular, so “certa” matches in gender and number.
is there any difference between gente, and persone, besides that gente is singular? or are they interchangeable?
'Persone' is the plural of 'persona' and is used when referring to specific people. If you say 'those people over there' you would use 'persone.' Gente is more general, meaning people in general or an unspecified number. Saying 'certa gente' implies you mean a group of people that share something in common, like race, gender, religion, etc. You can use 'gente' for groups or to mean everyone in the world / people in general.
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My translation of "I won't work with certain people" seems very close to the Duolingo version of "I don't work with certain people". My translation was marked incorrect. It was fascinating to see many others having problems with this phrase. Agreed that "I will not work with certain people" is also a very good translation. They all capture the meaning. Having grown up with Italian spoken at home in Australia and having studied it at high school, albeit many years ago, I have a fairly good command of both languages. It seems at times that Duolingo hasn't got enough versions of equivalent phrases in its database. . Having said that Duolingo Italian is still a very good course and one that I often recommend to many friends and relatives. Avanti ragazzi e ragazze
I see "I don't work" and "I won't work" as having different meanings.
Our office has 10 sales people I don't work with some of them (not in my team) and I won't work with some of them (they are bad at their job)
The correct answer isn't in the order you'd usually say this in English. 'With certain people i do not work' should be 'i do not work with certain people '
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I have the same question. In this same lesson DL translates " Non trovo la mia patente" as "I CANNOT find my license". It seems analogous, doesn't it?
I need to remember this sentence so I can say it in Italian to my unkind co-workers. :-)
Can this mean certain people in the meaning "people who are certain"? Or that is" "gente certa"?
I put I 'will' not work with certain people - other native English speakers help me out here - would that be an acceptable translation meant for the present tense, not the future? I think I should report, but wondered if Duo was forcing a non-ambiguous translation.
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I am a native English speaker and this is the phrase I used. Thinking about it, although I am using the future tense, I am using it in a continuous sense i.e. from the past, now and into the future. There are lots of cases in Italian where a past tense is used in the present sense e.g. imperfect subjunctive which Duolingo has shown me so I would report this if I were you but don't expect any immediate response both now and in the future
I also have been frustrated with my English answers that are marked incorrect. But I will signals the future tense.
Would this be an acceptable place to use "taluni" instead of "certa gente"? Or does that change the meaning too much?
Do we always need to use the phrase "con..." in the beginning of a sentence? Will it sound natural for Italians to put it in in the end like English speakers do?
why this translation doesn't work "i don't work with specific people"
