65 Comments
certain common places omit the definite article when used with "in" to indicate you are in that place. Cucina is one of them.
I used to work with a guy that was Italian, and he could not stand the cooking show Marianne Esposito had called "Ciao, Italia!", because in every single episode, she would say "let's go nella cucina". He said it hurt his ears.
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in italian, the rule to omit the definite article is valid for all places of the house (and others)
- the bottle is in the kitchen = la bottiglia è in cucina
- the bottle is in the bathroom = la bottiglia è in bagno
- the bottle is in the cellar = la bottiglia è in cantina
- the bottle is in the yard = la bottiglia è in cortile
- He works at the bank = Lui lavora in banca (not "...alla banca")
- We go to the pool = Noi andiamo in piscina (not "...alla piscina")
but if you use the possessive adjective or who owns the room...
- the bottle is in my kitchen = la bottiglia è nella mia cucina
- the bottle is in your bathroom = la bottiglia è nel tuo bagno
- the bottle is in the John's cellar = la bottiglia è nella cantina di John
- the bottle is in the neighbor's yard = la bottiglia è nel cortile del vicino
I just wanted to add a particular case: "in my bedroom" in Italian can be "nella mia camera" but also "in camera mia".
But "in my bedroom" means exactly "nella mia camera da letto". In general, room is "camera", or "stanza"... "living room" is "soggiorno", "dining room" is "camera da pranzo", "guest room" is "camera per gli ospiti" and so on.
I also agree. Otherwise, this says I have a liter of oil in kitchen which makes no sense!
My answer was " I have a liter of oil in the kitchen.". But duolingo wants "my" before the kitchen.
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Looks fine to this American. On the other hand, the spelling in your comment looks odd. Not wrong, but odd.
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Is this not available in real English or do I have to suffer the Yankee Pidgin English spellings throughout?
Duolingo, please be consistent with the acceptance of British English spelling. My correct (wink, wink) spelling of 'litre' was rejected in favour of the US one, 'liter', (which to be frank I find barbaric). My rendering of the Italian phrase was correct, yet my answer was rejected on account of my CORRECT spelling of 'litre'. It is the Americans who deviate from the rest of the Anglophone world on this topic and therefore it is they who should be marked down, if indeed anyone should be.
It is mystery. There is another frase Non ho niente in cucina and Duo translates it as I have nothing in MY kitchen. In this exercise I've put my in front of kitchen, and it went wrong. Where is the truth? Should be there my or the or nothing at all? Thanks
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I have the same problem but in the english sentence
if you say to me "non ho niente in cucina", for me (as italian) it is clear that you are talking about your kitchen
My question:
if you say "I have nothing in the kitchen" (without "my") is it clear that you are talking about your kitchen or is "my" necessary?
thanks in advance for your reply
(English speaker talking) I can not imagine ever saying ''There is nothing in kitchen'' (no pronoun or article). We would understand, but it would sound totally odd. You can certainly say '' there is nothing in the kitchen'' that would work perfectly and it would be clear that you are talking, by default, about your own kitchen,. "There is nothing in my kitchen." works equally well and is more specific. We will all be crazy before we are done.
(English Native Speaker From New York). I do agree with John Grunewald, although I have heard people say things like: "I'm in the process of moving house", "I have to clean room" or "I'm in bathroom". First person I have ever heard use these terms was a woman from England. Then recently I moved to a different part of America (San Antonio, Texas) where I have heard others say phrases similar, if not the same, as the ones I've mentioned. I have never heard or used these terms my whole life growing up in the Northeastern part of the country. I don't believe it's incorrect english, just very odd sounding at first because it's not very common amongst most english speakers (atleast here in America). Hope this sheds more kight onto the situation.
When you said she was from England, it reminded me of a similar one: Americans say 'in THE hospital,' British say 'in hospital.'
The answer is up the thread a bit, in two posts, one by GreyB and one by Pierugofoz.
Why would people downvote your help here ? I'm only being system permitted to upvote you one level so have lingot aswell.
"of oil".... you contract the D with olio instead of di olio I think because "di olio" has two vowels next to each other, i and o, so you just say d'olio. I think.
Yes, but I don't think it's mandatory. Not to the point to mark "di olio" wrong.
We never say "a insect" in English. I'm sure that when people use Duolingo to learn English, they would get marked wrong if they said "a insect".
Similarly, in Italian, the "di" is contracted when the next word begins with a vowel. Like "olio" which begins with a vowel. So grammatically "di olio" is incorrect. "D'olio" is correct for the same reason that "an insect" is correct.
(Please note that this rule does not apply to several last names, like di Angelo.)
I can't hear the word "un" in the recording. It says: "Ho litro d'olio . . ." Is it necessary to say it?
Ho un litro d' olio in cucina
I have a liter of oil in my kitchen.
Why should we use (my) in the translated text, and there is no (mio) in the original?
shy should my "I have a litre of oil in kitchen" be faulted? after all, YOU always insist on transliterating exactly, and I did with this Italian sentence: where is the article "the" in the italiano???
The translation has to be as literal as possible, but it still has to make sense...
Above, CreyB explains that in certain familiar places, the definite article is omitted because it is familiar and therefore implied. I know in J. R. R. Tolkien's language Quenya there is no indefinite article since if there is not a definite article, there has to be an indefinite one. It's the opposite with Italian.
"In una cucina" = In a kitchen
"In cucina" = In the kitchen
There is no indefinite article in the first one, so a definite article is simply implied.
Also above, pierugofoz elaborates on CreyB's original statement of certain (familiar) places where the definite article is dropped and how it stays when using a possessive. Hope this helps!
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There is a very useful rule for all languages called the "because" rule. It is much easier to learn a language by noticing these differences, and not trying to figure out the whys, which, if they can be explained at all, get very complicated.
Words like litre/liter and metre/meter can be spelled either way and will be considered correct (like colour versus color). Several British people may use liter/meter/color and several Americans do use litre/metre/colour - I know that last one for a fact.
I 'm British and I spell it the only way I have seen it spelled my neck of the woods and that is 'litre' (for us 'liter' is American and never British -if any Brit spells it that way we say 'you spell like an American'), yet Duolingo just rejected my answer due to my spelling of litre in my own language. Quite scandalous!
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I have a gallon of olive oil (actually 2, one extra virgin one regular).
