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- "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
I am not native english. "My mothers sister" is she. So why it´s not "doesn´t"?
Sorry for the question about the english grammer here.
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.
Did you report it? Comments won't get to the ones that can change/add these terms
Why can't we translate as follow : "The sisters of my mother do not eat chicken" instead of "My mother's sisters do not eat chicken" ? I'm French and for me both of them works,no?
Both of them technically work but I think they want you to make the connection between the "di" representing the " 's " in English. In English, it is much more common to say "My mother's sisters"
pooh, I'm learning Italian, sigh, but thanks for your reply on the question I wanted to ask too ... lol, my English improves because I learn Italian, hahahahaha
- 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
I agree. the English nonliteral translation of my mother's sisters is my aunts. Unless there is a word in Italian that means aunty
- 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.)
I have just two questions:
1 - Why can't this poor chicken have a minute of break?; 2 - In what cases I cannot use the possessive form with ('s) ?
- 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.
It may sound silly, but im reading " the sisters of my mother do not eat chicken" if thats wrong, then please correct me. Cheers
There wouldn't be much use in referring to your sister's mother, unless you were step- or half- siblings... I don't think Duo is that advanced on Family 1.
I believe in this case, the sentence is telling more that the aunts "don't eat [any] chicken" // not that they "don't eat [that] chicken". More of a general statement, rather than a refusal on a singular basis.
- 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".
How would you distinguish between the aunts on your mother' side from the aunts on your father's side?
- 992
The same way you just did in English: "le zie da parte di mio padre" and "le zie da parte di mia madre" :-)
You would say my maternal aunts or my paternal aunts. Otherwise, English does not make a distinction between sisters of the mother and father.
How do we say my mothers sisters instead of sisters of my mother? It just seams so extra complicated
- 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.
I only have the option of Italian words as the answer, but the answer is in English...?
Why don't they eat chicken? Im sure if they tried it they'd like it. Mama mia ya gots to be kiddin me ova here! Chicken is delicious
- 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:
I start answering in english and unconsciously I end the answer in italian. Is this normal? Is it a bad or good sign in the learning process?
I'd like to know what they eat. This same sentence about milloin times. Give me a break
Folks: The sisters' of my mother is what it says. When literal translation is rejected, although we find it clunky, it is disturbing to those trying to learn a language. Please include.
In the lesson the audio is pronounced Le but the word sister is pronounced Sorella. Please repair.
- 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.
Yes trying to relearn a language in my family for thousands of years, abandoned to become "American" is no easy road when pronunciation is as casual as it is in some of these lessons. My German (Scientific requirement) is no help either.
- 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.
The lesson audio, in the Duo training, was male but the one above is female. My ear is fine as is my brain. You're admonition is condescending without foundation. At least do "due diligence" before commenting.
- 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.
Why is it 'My Mothers sisters' instead of 'The Mothers sisters' I thought Le was used with plural feminine words?
- 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.
How many more times will we see this sentence!!! I am sick of the chickenless aunts!
- 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'.
I put "My mother's sisters don't eat chicken". It was marked wrong. That's crazy!
- 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
Ugh... I put ''My sisters's mother do not eat chicken". I knew that sounded wrong, but hey, the sorelle came before the madre, so I'm confused, lol
Yeah, In Italian, And I believe all other Romance languages, Possessives are usually expressed as "The [Item(s)] of [Person]", Rather than "[Person]'s [Item(s)]", Like in English, It can take a while getting used to, But it's not too hard.
Sister of my mom ! Isnt it acceptable also.. do I have to use my mother's sister?
Should be my mother's sister does eat chicken not since they are talking about she (the sister ) and it is the third person singular present of the verb to do
- 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".
what is the difference between "mamma" and "madre"?! they have the same meaning!!
- 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)
My mother's sisters are my maternal aunts!
There should not have to be a comment about this one. In English maternal aunts are more often used than mother's sisters but I accept that in Italian Le mie zie materne dis likely not as good as the above.
