45 Comments
In Italian the continuous does work, but it places emphasis on the fact that the action is happening right now. The Italian present tense is sufficient for the continuous, as in Italian "piangi" translates to "You cry", "You are crying", and "You do cry"
1101
As an example of what HolomorphicShawn says, if you enter a room and seem someone wiping their reddened eyes, clearly very sad - but they are not currently engaged in the act of crying, then English present continuous deals with that situation: "Why are you crying?" even if the person is not crying at this very moment. That situation would be translated into Italian simple present, not stare + piagiando.
In English simple present, "Why do you cry?" sounds incomplete, More likely, the thought would be stated with more detail, such as "Why do you cry so much?" That sentence, however, no relevance to what is currently happening, but is rather a reference to repeated or habitual actions which have happened in the past. If the person is crying a lot NOW, you'd use English present continuous, 'Why are you crying so much?"
"Why are you crying?" can thus be translated into either Italian simple present or stare + piagiando, depending on whether the act of crying is going on right now or some other time. Context is obviously of determining importance in deciding which.
- 1200
Came for this. "I know now why you cry. But it is something I can never do."
- 1101
Rutger Hauer's line in Blade Runner, "All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die." was an ad-lib - or at least of Hauer's own creation.
The monologue: "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die."
- 928
I did and Duolingo marked it as wrong answer. I hoped someone explains why it is wrong (or supports it as a valid answer) :-(
It is a valid answer, strictly speaking, though "weep" is rarely used outside of literature or fantasy.
The "someone" could be crbratu! Report it!...Duo does read the reports and I have even had 4 or 5 of my translations
- 928
I did! Just wanted to know if I am the only one having this opinion :-) I also had many translations accepted, although some of the answers came with a few months delay. Sadly, if your report is not accepted there is no message...
I understand what you mean, and that's not a bad idea, but it's meant to be more like you cry. 'Why cry' would be more like 'why does one cry', if you see what I mean.
"Why cry?" is a distinct, possibly rhetorical question in English. "What's done is done. Why cry now?" if this sentence means "why do YOU cry?" what other forms could be used to match that meaning?
- 1503
The Italian sentence is explicitly conjugated to second person singular (tu) present indicative. In theory it is also the imperative, but not in combination with "perché" and a question mark/intonation. I believe the rhetorical question in Italian should use the infinitive:
- Perché piang
ere? = Why cry? - Perché piang
i? = Why doyoucry? - Perché piang
i? = Why areyoucrying?
One cries because they're sad. For example, I cry because others are stupid and it makes me sad.
"Why do I cryyy? Why do I cry, why do I cry, why do I cry, someone tell me whyyyy"
Remember the poem we learned in school: Why do you cry Willy? Why do you cry? Why, Willy? Why, Willy? Why, Willy? Why?
Piangiare means to hurt someone and also to cry? Does it really just mean "hurt" or "pain" or something?
No. Piangere means "to cry".
Meanwhile,
Pain = dolore
To hurt someone = offendersi
