"The elephant drinks milk."
Translation:L'elefante beve il latte.
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From what I've gathered, the Italians consider it more proper to use definite articles for just about everything, so when in doubt, use a definite article.
Hola philster: I am not sure that is totally correct, but I like the idea of "when in doubt' use it. I am sure a native speaker would understand either way. Grazie.
I know Philster wasn't suggesting anyone wouldn't understand without the definite article. But I know what he means by "when in doubt." As a Spanish teacher, I explain to my students that while saying "the" in front of nouns may go by the by when speaking, especially with a native speaker, it sounds more erudite to use the definite article. Me gusta el queso / Me gusta queso both tell someone that you like cheese. That said, I like the cheese does have (at least in English,) some implication that it is a specific cheese. I feel like in Spanish (and other Romance languages) it does not.
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Another benefit from including the definite articles is the reinforcement of awareness of gender of the noun.
Not in Mar 2021. And I would agree with the above "when in doubt" tip, but Duo doesn't always allow them. It's maddening!
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I got this as a listening exercise and my answer of "L'elefante beve i latte" was accepted as correct, but I don't think "i latte" is actually correct . . .
Duolingo seems at times to accept both "l'elefante beve latte" and "l'elefante beve il latte" for "the elephant drinks milk" and I think it was just due to a glitch that your answer containing "i" was accepted. "I" is "the" before masculine plural nouns and adjectives (except those that begin with a vowel, "s" + a consonant, "z", "gn", "y" or "ps").
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I agree; it doesnt seem right to use the article "il" here. It has a different meaning to say, "The elephant drinks milk" vs "The elephant drinks the milk". The latter seems more specific.
It seems to me that when you use the article, you're describing a scene in which "the elephant" is drinking "the" milk in this very moment. And when you drop it, you mean that the elephant usually drinks milk. But maybe a native speaker could shed light on it.
I'm afraid I'm not a native speaker but I'm pretty certain you're making a mistake in doing a word-for-word translation from Italian to English then going by what meaning we'd give to the words in English. In French, Spanish and Italian and maybe other Romance languages, when a substance in general is spoken of it has the definite article before it. We wouldn't say eg "Baby mammals drink the milk" in English but it would be said that way in Italian I think.
Think of the words from "The Marriage of Figaro": "la donna è mobile" ("woman is fickle"). It refers to women in general, not to one woman in particular.
It sounds funny... If you say it fats it sounds like "lelefantebebelate"...
So why does l'elefante mangIA, but bevE? I got it right and I guess I've got it committed to memory, but I don't get why these endings differ.
Its because if thr type of verb. Mangiare conjugates to mangia for the lei/lui form abd bevere conjugates to beve. For the most part, -are verbs end in a and -ere verbs end in a for third person.
It seems completely random when they require the article before q noun or not. I hate getting is "wrong" when I do or do not choose to include the article. They need to make their answer the same across all exercises or we end up thinking some important point is being made.
Baby elephants drink milk because they're mammals... I don't know how they keep their trunk out of the way. You'd have to ask them.
If they don't put the article in the sentence they want us to translate that don't expect it to be in our answer. Just saying
Because Gli is the plural masculine definite article, and there is only one elephant here.
Where can I find more lessons about the usage of the article in italian grammar? I don't understand when I have to use Lo, Il, l', Gli, La..
about.com has a nice little page. I'm sure there are more somewhere: http://italian.about.com/library/fare/blfare110a.htm
Why in this case we use il latte, when in other scenarios its wrong when i use the definite article
Duolingo isn't consistent. I wonder if our tame green owl think this Italian use of "the" is too difficult for beginners and can't make up his mind whether to have us learn it or not.
Ive read all these comments that both are ok but when in doubt.... however half the time on here, i put the il and it is wrong, and half the time its correct. Not consistent.
My example said the elephant drinks milk and i had to translate it. I didn't say THE milk because no article was given in English. Is this just an error? Or am i supposed to know WHY they wanted THE this time?
Can someone help me with the masucline and feminine words and when to use them
It's heavy to be right if in italian is no article but I have to use it in english
Let me clarify the question. As far as I know, "beve" is "you drink", and goes with "tu".
Why is "L'elefante beve il latte" correct but "L'elefante bevA il latte.* wrong? When do I use beva instead of beve?
Oh, that's a simple question. "You drink" is "bevi", and "he or she drinks is "beve". Rounding out the amo/amas/amat trilogy, "I drink" is bevo.
Here's a link to a comprehensive table: http://conjugator.reverso.net/conjugation-italian-verb-bere.html
For a hint of when you might use "beva", look under CONGIUNTIVO (Italian for subjunctive).
Now I'm truly stuck. o.O
The verb changes between fact and opinion/hypothetical sentences?
My native language (Hebrew) doesn't really seem to have this type of behaviour, at all.
I therefore tried looking up examples of the subjunctive tense in English. The only example I found that made sense to me was "I wish that it WERE true" vs "I know that it IS true". Though I'm not even entirely sure why "I wish that it WAS true" is wrong besides the fact that it doesn't 'click' as much as the former.
(tl;dr - Either I'm using subjunctive forms without even realizing it, or my English is lacking, lol)
If I were to guess, I'd say that "beve" is used for facts such as "L'elefante beve il latte" (which is a fact since elephants are mammals..) while "beva" is used in a hypothetical scenario, or a wish?
If so, would the sentence "L'elefante beva la limonata" be correct then? (since elephants don't naturally drink lemonade).
You're getting warmer, as we say.
The subjunctive is becoming rare in English. If it were more common, I wouldn't have to explain it. (see how I slipped that in)
The sentence "L'elefante beva la limonata" would not be a correct use of the subjunctive, because there's nothing that expresses doubt, uncertainty, or a desire that may be unfulfilled. Now suppose your elephant was (or were, for subjunctive!) dehydrated, but it looks too tired to drink. Then you could say, "Voglio che l'elefante beva la limonata" correctly.
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I put "l'elefante" at first then checked the hint and it said to use "il elefante" instead.
it was literally "the elephant drinks milk" not "the milk" why should I use "il" not fair to consider my answer wrong
Why is there no different between "the milk" "il latte" and "milk" "latte"?
What does it matter the gender. I can't even tell what the gender is in Italian.
Because there's only one elephant. The article "gli" is used in front of plural masculine nouns that start with a vowel or with an impure S, such as S followed by a consonant.
Why do you have to use these indecent words in a learning app like this huh???
We all come here to learn languages,not some nonsense slap.