- Forum >
- Topic: Italian >
- "Le sorelle di mia madre non …
"Le sorelle di mia madre non mangiano pollo."
Translation:My mother's sisters do not eat chicken.
108 Comments
992
The subject is le sorelle ( 'the sisters') therefore the verb needs to be in the 3rd person plural ('don't').
All grammar questions are welcome :-)
"Doesn't" is used in the singular form only. (example: 1:My mom doesn't eat chicken 2: She doesn't eat chicken 3: My friend doesn't eat chicken) Don't is used in the plural form or in the second person. (example: 1: Our priests don't pay taxes 2: My gay brothers don't use protection when fighting zombies 3: You don't have to report me, this is only educational!)
992
It would be if mamma was used in the sentence.
But we have madre so 'mom' cannot be accepted.
404
because della=di+la and in case of nouns indicating family members in singular we do not use the article before the possessif pronoun
633
[EN] Aunt \ Aunts = [IT] Zia \ Zie.
[EN] Auntie\Aunty = [IT] Zietta.
But, they could be either your father's or your mother's sisters, so...
(Or even the wives of your uncles.)
752
The apostrophe comes after the s if the noun is plural. So you would spell it as my mother's sisters, and my sisters' mother. Or if you have two mothers you might spell it as my mothers' sisters.
624
The sentence translates to: "Mum's sisters don't eat chicken." Yet it's consistently marked incorrect.
633
Except that Mum (mom) and Mother
have two different words in Italian...
• [EN] Mother = [IT] Madre.
• [EN] Mum (Mom)⠀⠀= [IT] Mamma.
• [EN] Mummy (Mommy) = [IT] Mammina.
Also, you assumed that the fact that it's your mum is obvious,
but the Italian sentence does specifically say "My mother's".
992
The same way you just did in English: "le zie da parte di mio padre" and "le zie da parte di mia madre" :-)
633
Short answer: Because that is not what it says...
Longer one:
"Le sorelle di mia madre non mangiano pollo." = "My mother's sisters..."
"Le mie zie non mangiano pollo." = "My aunts..."
[EN] Aunt \ Aunts = [IT] Zia \ Zie.
[EN] Auntie\Aunty = [IT] Zietta.
But, they could be either your father's or your mother's sisters, so...
(Or even the wives of your uncles.)
If you want to convey all of the information in the original Italian sentence, you'd have to say:
My mother's sisters \ My maternal aunts \ My aunts on my mother's side
Or something like that.
Duo's choice is neither longer nor more cumbersome than the alternatives.
633
"The sisters of my mother" = my mother's sisters,
You forgot to pluralize the sisters.
Maybe that is the mistake.
633
If there is no other difference between your answer and Duolingo's,
(typo or something else)
then you should report it as "My answer should be accepted".
Link:
232
This happens a lot in Duolingo. I'm getting the impression that Italians (of which I am one) have a very loose approach to pronunciation. Un & una, del and delle, et al., sound the same
992
I find this comment of yours very peculiar, especially if you are a native speaker.
Italian is not a stressed-timed language: it is a syllable-timed language. The difference is rather important: it is English that "swallows" the non-stressed syllables.
Besides, the skills of hearing and pronouncing the vowels in a distinct manner is paramount to Italian, as it is the foundation on which its gender-based system is built.
992
Not sure if it is an issue with your system (PC, mobile..?) but I clearly hear le sorelle. Maybe your ear needs more training to recognize Italian sounds? If Italian is not your native language, your brain will try to narrow down the sounds to a familiar set, and that may lead to incorrect comprehension.
Practice, practice, practice is the key, the same way you would with a different grammar structure.
992
If your ear is fine, than your system is not.
I was not trying to be condescending: I was just saying that the audio sounds fine and I don't really understand on what basis you claim it is not since you are not a native speaker.
My "foundation" is that I am a native speaker.
The problem is audio problems are not consistent, that alone says it is not in the ear or system but the pronunciation. Foundation means facts not assertion. My friends and family are native speakers in English but if we got 5 together you would understand none of them while I would have to translate English to English all day and night.
752
In this case the article belongs to the sisters, not the mother - literally "the sisters of my mother" - so the feminine plural article Le is needed.
624
There's no typo in "my mum's sisters don't eat chicken". I'm using actual English applicable to every country that actually speaks it.
992
There is no typo but you are using an incorrect translation.
'Mum/mom/mommy' = mamma.
The word used here is madre which translates as 'mother'.
633
If you encounter this again, you can report it as "My answer should be accepted". Here's a link to how:
232
It seems that Duolingo wants more literal answers, even though you probably wouldn't say "my mother's sisters" in English. But "my aunts" could also mean my father's sisters, so technically Duolingo is correct.
308
I suspect no one talks like this since John Travolta in Welcome Back Kotter. My mother's sisters are MY AUNTS. To say otherwise is not good English and, i suspect, awkward Italian as well.
992
It's not really a matter of good/bad English/Italian. It's more a matter of showing structures, constructs and grammar patterns.
When your get a grip on how to build a possessive sentence in Italian then you can swap words around and make real conversations rather than learning "useful" sentences and repeat them like in a phrase book.
258
the word "pollo" has a wrong pronunciation (as well as "torte", "passano" and several others). Please choose voice actors with correct pronunciation, without dialectal influences
992
sorella/sorelle = 'sister/sisters'
The Italian sentence has le (determinate article in its feminine and plural form) sorelle ('sisters', the plural of sorella) and the verb mangiano ('they eat'). Three markings for the plural.
I am afraid your translation is incorrect.
Italian has a different word for "Aunts"; Zie, But this sentence is infact more specific than "Aunts", 'Aunts' would refer to the sisters of either of your parents, And also the wives of your uncles, While 'Mother's Sisters' excludes your father's sisters and your mother's sisters-in-law, Both of which would fall under "Aunt".
752
They describe the same person, but one is an intimate form of address, and the other is formal. You would not expect to read about President Obama's "mummy" would you? But clearly his mother is being spoken about.
633
Mother, Mum, and Mummy have different words in Italian:
- [EN] Mother = [IT] Madre.
- [EN] Mum⠀ ⠀= [IT] Mamma.
- [EN] Mummy = [IT] Mammina.
(So, while they refer to the same person, they express slightly different degrees of affection / informality. Mother < Mum < Mummy)