"I cannot wait."
Translation:Non vedo l'ora.
56 Comments
The literal translation of "I cannot wait" is "non posso aspettare". Duo accepts this as a valid answer too.
Yes, but I had it as was a multiple choice, so there was only one answer. I guess that this comment section covers all kinds of tests based upon a single sentence.
"I cannot wait to hear the record." - "Non vedo l'ora di sentire il disco."
"No, I cannot wait a year." - "No, non posso aspettare un anno."
1938
In other words, it's phrased differently when it's "cannot wait to do" vs "cannot wait +time period".
Which way is it when you have both? I imagine it would be time period because that usually comes directly after "cannot wait".
No, non posso aspettare un anno di sentire il disco. --?
- 1938
It does. Literally translated, this reads "I do not see the hour." But it's an idiom that means "I can't wait."
That is the answer I gave, because there is no way at all that I would have known the idiomatic expression, but that's life.
How should I know an idiom I have never heard before? And it is far from the literal translation. I think it doesn't fit in this kind of exercise, at least not without introducing it first. And when there is also an obvious answer you just jump on it and it's wrong. That is not good.
You have a point, this is an idiomatic sentence and the meaning is not obvious to someone who's never come across it before. However, in reality when someone is talking to you it is very likely you hear this in place of "non posso aspetto" or something similar.
At the end of the day, personally I see this (duolingo) as one of many available learning tools. No more, no less. And as part of the learning curve you are allowed to get things wrong, it's not an exam (in fact make that "you WILL get things wrong - learning a language from scratch is a difficult process!")
I take your point that it might seem harsh if you've never come across it before, but now you have. And as a result of getting this "wrong" in a safe environment where no harm has been done, nobody's been misunderstood or upset you will now remember this sentence/idiom. Isn't that the purpose of learning?
You are probably right. Problem is because there is also the obvious literal answer in the multiple choice question, it feels much like a trick question which is just frustrating. There should be a better way to introduce such idiomatic sentences.
The philisophy of DL is "learn through error"
Make a mistake once. Don't make it a second time.
Stop complaining. Just learn!
Reminds me of a famous "gaffe" a president once made about the saying that includes the words "fool me once [...] fool me twice [...]" :)
- 1938
"I don't see the time."
"I can't see the time" would be "Non posso vedere l'ora."
"Non posso aspettare " I think that is better explanation for us whom don't speak italian.
My two cents as a language/linguistics instructor: This needs to be fixed. The glosses give you no indication, only literal translations that don't even appear as options (at least when I encountered it). I can try to figure out (semi-logically, semi-intuitively) what to respond, but I have decades of language experience. This is likely to frustrate many learners. If you can guarantee that the literal words won't appear as options, and that a literal translation will be accepted (as long as it's basically correct), then go ahead and indicate that this is an idiomatic expression, and allow learners to puzzle it out, OR only provide the words that are in the expression, and let them arrange them. THEN, and ONLY then, is it not like throwing a trick question at them.
"I can't wait" is an American saying meaning you're looking forward to something. If you literally can NOT wait then you would use "non posso aspettare"
- 392
I can't wait here. ‧ [ waiting elsewhere is OK ]
I can't wait until I am big. ‧ [ wait is an eager idiom ]
I can't wait any longer. ‧ [ agenda schedule demands pressing on with alternate plan or action ]
- 1938
If you look at all of the comments in these threads, you'll see at least one comment on here from me already. This subscribes me to these threads, and gives me email alerts whenever anyone posts a comment.
- 1938
Sure, that's the literal translation, but unless they actually say that in Italy, then it's not a valid translation.
Though http://context.reverso.net/traduzione/inglese-italiano/i+can%27t+wait suggests that the Non vedo l'ora is far more common.
- 1938
As someone with a background in linguistics, I cannot agree with that statement. Common usage is exactly what determines "correctness".
If more people say "Non vedo l'ora", then that is the expression. If fewer people say "Non posso attendere", then that is the variant.
There's the artificial standard dialect you're explicitly taught in school, which almost nobody uses naturally, and there's the dialect you grew up learning that nobody had to explicitly teach you, which varies from region to region.
It's all a matter of what native speakers use more frequently.
However in this case, since it is the idiom used in Italian for this concept, Non vedo l'ora is the phrase we should use for 'I can't wait' if we want to sound as if we're fluent when talking to an Italian. But as has already been noted, the other phrase works too. Non posso aspettare anyway. If you want to argue the attendere there's a report button for that. Except that here it doesn't work because it's in the intransitive mode where attendere means 'attend to' not 'await'. You need something to wait for specified for it to mean wait. https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/italian-english/attendere
So to be clear, is "non vedo l'ora" used idiomatically the same as "I can't wait!" is in English?
I don't get when to use "l'"properly, I thought that it was used for masculine words that start with a vowel, but isn't "ora" feminine?
Ora is feminine. "I" has nothing to do with the masculine and feminine. That strictly addresses verbs. Adjectives change masculine/feminine endings to agree with the subject. Any time you conjugate a verb to the present tense "I" - whether you're male or female - you drop the last three letters (which will be -are, -ire, or -ere) and replace it with -o. The exception to this is irregular verbs (like andare, which cobjugates (I) vado, (you) vai, (s/he/it) va, (we) andiamo, (you plural) andate, and (they) vanno). Not every irregular verb has the same irregular conjugation pattern, though. It's just kinda something you have to learn as you come across them.
- 1232
I think Cobra was talking about l', not io. L' is used to replace thebsingular article before a vowel. In the plural, gli is used for masculine nouns. I can't remember about le + vowel (le ore?, l'ore?), though I think it should be the latter.
I have hired a tutor recently and this is one of the lessons he is teaching me now so what Megan is stating is correct, Confusing to me but correct LOL
The first time I tried this sentence I got it wrong but then I saw the actual Italian translation and instantly comprehended what it meant mainly because of my Spanish. In Spanish "No veo la hora..." means "I can't wait". For example "No veo la hora que se caiga" means "I can't wait until he/she falls".
"Non vedo l'ora di rivederti" I knew this one from personal experience :) :) :)
The answer DL give me is:
Non posso aspettare
Why aspettare not aspetto?
- 1938
Same reason why we say "He cannot wait" and not "He cannot waits".
You can't have two tensed verbs stacked like that. The first verb takes the tense and the second remains untensed.
io non aspetto is what i typed...........yup an idiom is just like theirs for April Fools joke.....check that one out
