81 Comments
It would be nice if they also let you not translate the word, "gelato", since it is also a frozen dessert distinct from ice cream.
Quite so. I can go to my local aussie gelato shop and get an apple gelato. No way would I be able to find apple ice cream
Indeed. Check this out, I just found this article on gelato. It has both English and Italian translations too (and the gelato in the pic looks scrumptious!)
http://www.italymagazine.com/dual-language/dual-language-gelato-italiano-italian-ice-cream
Really? I thought all this time gelato was just a type of ice cream. Nice to learn these kinds of things!
Yep, in my town there's a lot of gelato, ice cream, and frozen yogurt shops and all of them are completely different entities.
You can use the word "gelato" instead of ice cream! Counted as correct when I did.
Not in all cases! I've tried keeping "gelato" with some answers and it counted as correct, and others as incorrect! I wish they would standardize it -- Ice-cream is NOT gelato!
I would say "alle mele" means something like "of the apple kind" or "in the apple style." "Alla francese" means "in French style." "Al forno" means "oven style." For a question "Do you have...?" sounds right.
I was thinking the same thing but with so many flavors out there it could also be apple flavored ice cream.
First of all, because "mela" is feminine and you would have to say "alla". Secondly, there's no reason to refer to one apple.
The last part is interesting. Why is there something called "la zuppa al pomodoro", then? I would argue that multiple tomatoes are required if you want a tomato soup to actually taste something :)
If you want a wild guess, I'd say that in Italy tomatoes are handled in mass and "pomodoro" is in fact regarded as a kind of material, like "wood" or "iron", which is expressed only in the singular.
Not exactly Italian-related, but in Portuguese we have the same problem with specific things. You could absolutely refer to a tomato soup (singular) or a soup of tomatoes (plural), and people would still understand you. Perhaps not exactly in what the rules say, but how the language is used. Maybe that's what's going on in Italian: a soup in the style of tomato, but an ice cream with the flavour of apples.
Tomato is regarded in that case as an uncountable/mass noun, because it's basically the material the whole soup is made of, while apple is considered a countable noun, like saying that gelato/ice cream was made from apples.
I do not get it , why would it be " alle mele " as apple ice cream or whatever and not be alla mela if he wants to say apple ice cream ..... why plural and translated singular !
the "gelato" part is singular. "alle mele" because... well, it's like putting the essence of an apple in the ice cream, so it's plural.
why is alle in this sentence at all?!!n surely it isn't needed and duolingo tells me it means as/a/to ... makes no sense?!
I am learning that it is very common in Italian to use this construction to signify the flavor of something, e.g. "te (accent) al limone" or "torta al cioccolato." It's just how they say it!
See viaggiatore's comment above. This is like the French phrase "a la" which is often borrowed in English, as in "pie a la mode", or "a la carte". It roughly translates as "of the type".
232
why is "are you having apple ice cream?" not accepted, in the sense of asking someone if they are eating it or going to choose it?
Well, I'm not sure if this is what you are asking, but 'le' is only a definite article, feminine, plural form, and 'alle' is a combination of the preposition 'a' with that same article. (alle = a + le). So, anywhere you would need to use that preposition 'a' with the feminine noun in plural that requires the article 'le' you would need to precede it with that 'alle' combination.
The Italian preposition a can mean "to," "at," or "in," depending on how you use it in context. You use it in the following cases:
-
When saying that you are going or staying somewhere, as in 'Vado a Milano.' or 'Si trova a Venezia. (It can be found in Venice.)
-
Before indirect objects: 'Scriva a Rita.' or 'Scriviamo alle zie. (We write to our aunt.)
-
In combination with certain verbs: andare a... (to go to) (Vado a casa VS Vado alle piazze.) fermarsi a... (to stop) incoraggiare a... (to encourage) invitare a... (to invite to) insegnare a... (to teach) riuscire a... (to succeed) venire a... (to come to)
-
In the following phrases: a mezzogiorno (at noontime) alle tre (at three) barca a vela (sailboat) sedia a rotelle (wheelchair)
Thanks...two seconds after I wrote that question. the light dawned and I realized what was what.
Attributive nouns are usually singular: http://www.englishspark.com/en/blog/stumpers/447-noun-modifier-attributive-noun
I aggree with some of you.. . why alle mele? (Plural) if the translation is gotta be singular?
I assume that ha is this person singular (lui ha/ lei ha/ la gatta ha) and ho is first person singular (io ho). Could someone please explain the other forms to me? I don't understand when "avete" should be used.
i still don't understand why it says (plural) mele in italian and (singular) apple in english???
Why not say "gelato al mele", like "torta al cioccolato". I'm confused. Is it because apple is a fruit and not a flavor? It's still "un ingrediente". Si o no?
Why not? --> Avete il gelato alla mela. Why did not this plural setting apply for previous lessons that had: il gelato al limone? Mio dio.
I think that I kind of understand the sentence, but I just want to make sure. Is it saying "You have the ice cream as apple?" Which would mean "You have the apple ice cream?" Also as I look over this would it be better to put 'do' at the beginning?
Thanks for any help!
In English we don't use the definite article "the" as much as it is used in Italian. We would only say "the apple ice cream" if we were referring to a specific carton of ice cream, for instance. Otherwise, it's just "apple ice cream."
I agree that "the apple ice cream" is incorrect unless the situation is that you knew that in the past they have had that flavour and you are referring to this particular one. However, I (a native English speaker) answered "do you have an apple ice cream?" which was also (and in my opinion, mistakenly) judged incorrect.
While technically correct English, that's a very odd word formation and the software can only guess at so much.
Mi piacerebbe vedere una scelta tipo "Do you have apple flavored ice cream?" , so that it makes more sense. Altrimenti significa di piu gelato fatto proprio di mele.
Is it just me, or is the accent on the wrong syllable of "avete" in the audio? Sounds like they're saying "A-ve-te", not "a-VE-te".
So... apples describe the kind of ice cream, and "a" is necessary. But when you use black to describe a shirt- it is not used. Can someone explain this?
I don't understand why it is (voi) avete and not (Lei) ha? I put "Do you all have apple ice cream which was marked correct, but a bit odd!"
"Lei ha" is "she has", not "you". The correct answer, as you already said, is "Do YOU have apple ice cream". If "Lei ha" was correct, the sentence would then have read as "Does SHE have apple ice cream".
Because the word apple functions/serves as an adjective here, and adjectives are hardly ever (almost never) in plural. That's why we say 'a three-year-old boy' and NOT 'a three-yearS-old boy'. There are some exceptions though, which you can find at http://david-crystal.blogspot.com/2010/05/on-plural-adjectives.html
This was a confusing sentence just because i couldn't fathom apple ice cream. I'm intrigued now, thus begins my quest to locate a mythical item...
Of course. In English there are many ways of saying the same thing. In Italian there are many ways of interpreting one thing!
What is the difference between " Do you have?" and "Have you?" One is the correct answer and one is wrong
- 90
What is the meaning of the word "alle" in this sentence? Why wouldn't you use "dalle" meaning "of the apples"? Does "a" also mean "of"?
Is it also possible to correctly translate this as " are you having apple ice cream? " as in a question one might ask at mealtime?
I think "Have you apple ice cream " is incorrect english. I think it should be "Do you have apple ice cream? " or " Have you got apple ice cream? ". If you substitute the verb " have " with any other verb e.g. " eat or buy or sell " you can see the problem. You cannot say " eat you apple ice cream? " or "Buy you apple ice cream? " You must say " do you eat " or " do you buy apple ice cream? "
" Have you apple ice cream" is commonly used in english but is incorrect as are many other commonly used phrases. They may, in time, become so commonly used that they become the correct version of grammar but as yet this phrase would be deemed incorrect.
- 366
Sorry, 'have you apple ice cream' is perfectly correct - 'got' is redundant, and no more correct. 'Do you have' is American English, not used in Europe.
