"Vedo il tuo cappello fra i vestiti."
Translation:I see your hat among the dresses.
61 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
The difference between tra and fra is similar to the differences of 'among' and 'between,' but apparently they use them almost interchangeably. They avoid using 'tra' with another word that has 'tr' such as 'i tra tre' (among/between the three) and would instead say 'i fra tre.' According to a dictionary I read (link below) this is because it sounds better and avoids confusing phrases like 'i tra tra,' 'i fra fra,' and 'i fra fro.' http://dizionari.corriere.it/dizionario-si-dice/T/tra-fra.shtml
826
Keep writing. Suggested edit. Replace line 2 with: I'll be the cream in your coffee cup. That was a 5 years ago. I'd be interested to see how your writing has progressed.
I am English and speak fluent Italian and am checking out Duo Italian for a friend who eventually wants to use it. When you have to translate : "vedo un cappello fra i vestiti" the correct translation would be: " I can see a hat among your clothes". This is because when it is a case of perception in English you have to say I can see. All things considered Duo Italian is not too bad but there is certainly room for improvement.
Ciao a tutti e buon divertimento con la lingua italiana !!!
Tina Wardle
No, you don't have to say it, but it is possible and should be allowed on all applicable questions on this course. This explains when and why it's used:
With verbs of ‘inert perception’ and ‘inert cognition’… there is little difference between being able to do something and actually doing it, so can tends to lose its distinctive modal meaning… With ‘verbs of inert perception’, furthermore, can not only loses its distinctive modal value, but has the additional special function of denoting a state rather than an event. As the Simple Present of these verbs has only an ‘instantaneous’ event meaning… the main difference between… I can see and I see is one of perception as a state versus perception as a (momentary) event
Geoffrey Leech, 'Meaning and the English Verb'
It could be left out in a present tense narrative ("I see your hat… then leave"), in a description of a repeated event ("I see your hat… every day"), and Americans often leave it out in all kinds of sentences.
1227
If vestiti can be dresses, clothes or suits, why is i see your hat between the suits not accepted?
the lesson right before this one used i vestiti to mean clothes, so I said that,but now DL wants it to mean dresses and marked me wrong!!! errrg!
I'm so glad to see Duolingo has improved so much since I last used it! I don't have to type something like "between the clothes" to get by! Or maybe just the Italian section happens to be better than the French one... You used to have to write ridiculous things in order to not lose hearts, just to be able to get to the coveted next lesson.
343
This rejected my translation of cappello as 'cap' saying it should be 'hat'. The drop down translations when hovering over the word include both hat and cap.
There is a contextual conundrum here. Given that the speaker has seen their colleagues/partners/wife's hat surely the dresses it is amongst must belong to the person observed to be requiring that hat. Or else the whole phrase has less meaning than usual with D/L. Given that the dresses belong to the person looking for their hat it should not be incorrect to state that the "hat is seen among your dresses."