"Sono contento che lui giochi di pomeriggio e non di sera."
Translation:I am happy he plays in the afternoon and not in the evening.
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I put I am happy he plays in the afternoon And not the evening but was penalised for omitting the second 'in'
Why is "They are happy that he plays in the afternoon and not in the evening." wrong?
That would be "Sono contenti (or contente) ..." Here it's 'contento' (singular, masculine) thus "I am ..."
In this sentence, does the use of the subjunctive imply that he doesn't necessarily play in the afternoon or evening yet, but that the speaker would be happy with that eventuality?
The subjunctive is caused by "sono contento che." It isn't any deeper than that.
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I would rather think that he formerly played in the evening but has changed his schedule. Your interpretation would also require a conjunctive in the main sentence.
Sono sempre contenta quando la mia squadra preferita di hockey sul ghiaccio giochi di pomeriggio perché sono una mattiniera e per me è necessario andare presto a letto.
I tried "I am happy that he should play in the afternoon and not in the evening." Of course it was marked wrong as the course designers insist that English indicatives must be the equivalent of Italian subjunctives. It would be nice if they explained their preference.
The two sentences mean two different things:
"I am happy that he plays...": He is absolutely positively playing; there is not the least little doubt about it. The use of the simple present (instead of the progressive present) shows that, in fact, his playing in the afternoon is a regular occurrence which happens to make me happy. He has been playing in the afternoon for some time now, will play in the afternoon again today, and will be playing in the afternoon in the future as well. There is no doubt, no uncertainty. We ar not talking about any potentiality. This is all established fact. The designers' comments on the subjunctive, however, do not suggest that the Italian subjunctive is used for stating established fact.
"I am happy that he should play..." Other times of day for his playing have been under consideration, and he has not yet played. He is on the verge of playing -- and the proposed time is the afternoon, but because he has not yet played, there is still uncertainty in the matter.
Another possibility would be with an infinitive: "I am happy for him to play..."
However, usually when learning a new language it helps to "get" the new language's modes of expressing things if one can use the same modes in one's own language.
How would you then say "I am happy IF he plays in the afternoon and not in the evening"? That's what I put (and was marked wrong), since I thought the subjunctive was supposed to be used for uncertainty, so I thought it was supposed to mean "He hasn't played yet, I know he is going to, so I would be happy if he plays in the afternoon and not in the evening".
Why is the following English wrong please: "I am happy he plays the afternoon and the evening" ? Is "in"daverro necessario?
Yes, "in" is necessary in English in this sentence. It is part of a prepositional phrase, which doesn't work without it.
Doesn't this sentence imply that it is happening more than once? I put "I am happy that he plays in the afternoons and not in the evenings." It wasn't accepted, even though it seems more logical to use the plurals in English to get the same idea.
