"Lui suonava e lei rispondeva."

Translation: He was playing and she was responding.

[italmongo]

he played and she answered

[blijmettaal61]

yes, why is this marked wrong?

[dmmaus]

So in Italian suonare is used for "to ring/call someone on the phone"? Can you also use chiamare for "call someone on the phone", or not? Which is the most common usage?
I'd just like to make sure I get the usage right.

[Rodomonte]

La frase italiana : " LUI suonava e lei rispondeva" sembra molto strana ad un italiano.
In italiano si dice : " Mi suona il telefono, devo rispondere " - " Lui mi ha chiamato al telefono...." - " Il telefono suonava e nessuno rispondeva..."

[dmmaus]

Molto grazie!

[mangoHero1]

Why is she was answering incorrect?

[Alf42]

I wrote as the translation, "He was calling and she was answering." "He would call and she would answer" sounds better but I was afraid it would get marked wrong. Suonava il telefono, no?

[paolomar77]

to call = chiamare, non suonare

[sapolion]

to call on the telephone, is not the same thing as to call. In the US one calls people, and does not ring them; likewise the telephone rings but does not play. (In the UK it is somewhat different)

[luke.floyd24]

The slow audio sounds like "Tuonava" and not Suonava.

[kmc207]

I wrote exactly what this is in italian but it was marked incorrect

[madmcmurphy]

I wrote "He rang and she answered" and it was marked wrong. Is it really incorrect?

[AaronDandr]

Scusate l'ignoranza, ma "He was playing and she was responding" in italiano non si traduce con il gerundio passato "lui stava suonando e lei stava rispondendo"? Grazie per la risposta

[blazinghaze]

I imagine im not sure but "suonava" & "rispondeva are contractions of those base words and stava , i say this based on their suffixes only

[darkpeak]

I'm English and this sentence is bewildering in view of the comments above. What has 'suonava' to do with telephoning?