"Mi hanno detto che a loro piace leggere il giornale."
Translation:They told me that they like to read the newspaper.
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They wrote in the italian sentense...che a loro piace.... Why tha "a" is there? can't it be "che loro piace" ?
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If you embrace your inner Yoda and break it down hyper-literally you get: "(to) me they have told". The sentence tells us who did the telling so we need to include that in the English translation.
(loro) hanno = they have, using the "hanno" form of "avere" implies the "they" so "loro" can be omitted. detto = past participle of "dire" = to tell
I hope that helps :)
"I was told" is better translated with "mi è stato detto che..." where the subject is not clear.
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They wrote in the italian sentense...che a loro piace.... Why tha "a" is there? can't it be "che loro piace" ?
Duolingo has translated "il giornale" as "the paper" as well as "the newpaper" for as long as I can remember. Now it marks it wrong. Why is Duolingo so often inconsistent? It's very annoying.
Nope, since "piacere" in Italian has the "thing being liked" as the subject, and the "liker" as an indirect object.
In this case, the subject is the sentence "leggere il giornale", so you have 3rd person singular (piace). By the way, 3rd p. plural would be piacciono.
See it as "Reading the newspaper pleases them" = they like to read the newspaper.
Because the Italian literally means "It is pleasing to them to read the newspaper" so "piace" is singular.
I cannot complete Infinitive 1 level 3 because there are no words shown to choose the correct solution
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I am experiencing the same issue. I thought it was because of a problem with the WIFI where I am visiting, so I am relieved to find your comment. Other than hitting "skip" there's nothing it will let me do. I can't type, nor are there any choices.
If the sentence was "they told me they like to read." How would detto be conjugated? Would it turn the sentence into an intransitive one?