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- "Does he prefer meat or fish?"
"Does he prefer meat or fish?"
Translation:Preferisce carne o pesce?
34 Comments
103
I' ve lost my share of hearts for missing articles too so I add them. I have not figured out when it's okay to leave them out. Hopefully someone can help us out.
Strangely enough, the definite article is used when you are talking about a specific item, one that would require 'the' in English, and also to refer non-specifically to a category of items in general, where English would not employ 'the', eg (the) meat, (the) fish. Not being a native speaker, I don't whether the definite article is actually mandatory in Italian for the latter.
Agreed. Another way of putting this is that you can omit the article when there is in implicit "some" or "any". For example, "Do you want (some) meat?" (Vuoi carne?) vs "Do you eat meat?" (Mangi il carne?).
So, here, I would have expected Preferisce il carne o il pesce, but clearly the article is not mandatory. (It may even depend on whether you are asking "In general, do you prefer meat or fish" or "Would you now like some meat or some fish").
276
Are you sure? I'm a beginner but I've seen lessons where using the personal pronoun after the verb indicates a stress. For example, "guido io" translates to "I (with a stress!!!) drive". This doesn't answer dwarkentin's question but merely just questions RenatoSSTradutor's reply. Thanks.
265
Why is oppure not used? You're getting a choice between 2 options, right?
"Preferisce carne oppure pesce?"
And as I said: in English, yes, in Italian, no. It seems you are still trying to translate word-for-word, which doesn’t work between any languages.
Whilst in Italy recently, a travel agent told me, “Può andare o in treno o in pullman.’ I’m afraid I don’t understand why you feel there MUST be a third option using ‘either’ and ‘or,’ in either language. It’s not precluded, but certainly not an absolute necessity.
Here’s another example. The slogan for the Italian snack ‘Crik Crok’ is ‘o fanno crik o fanno crok.’ I saw the advert in many shops and on many hoardings. [The article spells it ‘crick’ and ‘crock’ but that is irrelevant] The point is the use of ‘o’ as ‘either’ and/or ‘or.’ Here is a link to the site. http://www.dooyoo.it/piatto-pronto/crick-crock/551086/
As for what comprises good Italian, I think I’ll stick with an Italian travel agent and an Italian advertising company!
304
Now you tell me it is not necessary to use the definite article as in the previous question. The mind "boggles"
937
It can be really annoying, when you ask in restaurant for something without meat and then they offer you a fish. And they are so surprised when I try to explain that fish isn't a plant :D
396
I flukily got it right but if i read it back i would have no idea that it said "he" prefers. Can someone explain?
267
how come that Duolingo gives as a correct answer this: "Preferisce carne o pesce?" and they do with other sentences of this type. In question we have "he" ("lui"), if we do omit "lui" then the sentence might mean "she prefers" as well.