"Why do you cry?"
Translation:Perché piangi?
128 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
We would only say "Perché piangi"? In Italian this is the correct way to ask "Why do you cry?"
These are correct:
- “Perché piangi” - “Why do you cry”
- “Perché piange” - “Why do You cry”
“piange” is a formal/polite form of ”You cry”
- “Perché piangete” - “Why do you (all) cry”. (Plural you)
Typical DL. Bringing in things before they are taught. Based on the position of the exercise, the verb should be "piangi", although "piange" is technically correct because you'd be speaking formally then, but I think it's stupid to have that as the answer at this point. The designers of these exercises really don't know what they're doing.
All these are correct. Period.:
- “Perché piangi”
- “Perché piange”
- “Perché piangete”
You aren’t very nice. English is not my native language. How is your Spanish?
I said all three are correct. Period. The most obvious answer is piangi but as piange is also correct, DL has to accept it as the answer, if they wouldn’t then people would be really confused.
We are not talking about poetry, but very basic language. Correct means correct.
If you like you can use piangi but someone with better Italian can use piangete and you both would be correct. There is nothing wrong with this.
SarimaFaus the right answer Duo gave meceas " perché piange " Wirh " E" at the end.
As the word "you" is already included in "piangi" you should not repeat it.
That is unless you want to put emphasis on you, - but then you should put it at the end of the sentence, "Perché piangi tu?"
Then, as the English word "you" has several meanings, this can also be translated as:
Perché piangi? (you = tu)
Perché piange? (you = Lei)
Perché piangete? (you = voi)
FYI "Perché piangi tu?" (reversing verb and pronoun) was marked as CORRECT. I am still not sure why the other word order is wrong.
2460
Just a little insight regarding this construction: "why do you cry?" refers to crying at any time rather than at a particular time (suggested by "why are you crying?").
As such, non-natives should be aware that it sounds quite clinical, such as something a scientist might say in his thesis to investigate why humans cry. Or similarly, an alien/robot that doesn't understand the concept of crying. :)
What though if it is a question about "you" crying at thst moment and not a hypothetical question in general?
Why do you cry? made this answer"Correct solutions: Perché piange?, Perché piangete?" Piange????? Why??? Lei/lui piange, not Tu piange! i'm really nervious now. or made correct rules or smth. because it's Indicativo presente, nothing more.
Apparently Duolingo, which usually doesn't acknowledge the formal you ("Lei"), did this time. So technically it's tu piangi, lui/lei/Lei piange. But since Duolingo doesn't teach the Lei form, they shouldn't have included it here. I've noticed they've done that on another question as well.
Yes, it is annoying when you pose the formal you and it is marked wrong. But here they use it as though everyone is familiar with it.
It should, but that's DL doesn't have exercises where they ask you to stress a particular part of the sentence. Let's pick this apart a little:
WHY are you crying? Why are YOU crying? Why are you CRYING?
These 3 sentences have emphasis on the interrogative, subject and verb, respectively. In English, we simply change the tonality or dynamic of the spoken part i.e. raise pitch or volume (or both). In Italian (and other European languages), there is no shift in the spoken dynamic; instead, the word order is changed (among other things). In Italian, you can stress many things (verb, adjective, adverb, subject, both direct & indirect object, etc), but each can be slightly different. I'll admit that this is a very advanced topic for me that a friend introduced me to, but suffice it to say, small steps can already be taken and understood.
These 3 sentences are all correct:
Perche piangi? Perche tu piangi? Perche piangi tu?
The first is the simple question - why are you crying? (no emphasis) The second, while incorrectly stated by many that it's wrong because it's redundant, it's actually the form you'd use in order to ask "Why are YOU crying?" The third is similar to the second, but with even MORE emphasis. There is some debate among linguists as to whether the 3rd should actually be technically correct due to the grammar in questions following somewhat additional rules, but that's something you'd have to ask a professional linguist about (not even an average native might be able to answer this).
See also these alternatives:
Domani cucino (tomorrow I cook) Domani cucino io (tomorrow I cook, but with emphasis on the fact that it is me who will cook, not anyone else).
Fun fact! You can stress adjectives as well, as mentioned above, in a manner that DL seems to have omitted.
E molto difficile (it is very difficult) E difficile molto (it is VERY difficult, emphasis on the fact that it's bloody hard! E difficilissimo would be an alternative).
So long story short, inserting "tu" is correct in a particular situation, but the exercise doesn't tell us whether or not to emphasise something, so all variations that are correct should be considered. If DL had given us exercises with stressed structures, then it would unfortunately be wrong to add the "tu", but then if DL had done it's job properly it wouldn't be full of errors and confusing exercises. :)
There is nothing wrong with putting emphasis on the subject. But in this case (and please note that I’m not an English speaker) the English question asks about the action of crying without any emphasis on the person who cries.
You are not asking:
“Why YOU are crying?” (and others don’t, in the sense “what’s wrong with YOU?, while the others are fine).
So as I don’t see the emphasis on the subject (you) why would you put the emphasis in Italian?
Marks "perché piange?" as correct but is wrong. The statement refers to the 2nd singular person , while "piange" is 3rd (he/she/it)
12/11/17
on 8 May 2018 the correct solution is marked as "perché piangE?" while it should be "perché piangi?" This was already reported in 2017.
Although the personal pronouns are not required in Italian, it should not be wrong to use them. Was this marked as incorrect? If so, make certain the "tu" was the incorrect part, and not the accent used on Perché
Yes the "tu" was marked incorrect. The incorrect accent on Perche' in this post is because i can't figure out how to make it with my keystrokes
Maybe "Tu perche piangi" would be alright? If someone would like to know why a certain person cries (not nessecarily is crying). In English this would be expressed by stressing the "you".
Duolingo usually does not include the formal "you" in its list of correct answers.
Ciao. "peché piangi" was not an option; why?! There were "Perché racconti", "Tu perché racconti" and "Perché piange", which to me seems to be "lei/lui piange". Can someone explain, per favore. Grazie.
- 2460
"Perché piange" is short for "Perché Lei piange", which is the formal way of saying "Why do you cry". "Perché (tu) piangi" is the more informal way of saying the same thing.
Thank you for taking the time to reply. How, then, do we know which form DL wants us to use, of both piangi and piange are correct for tu and lei/lui? I am still confused.
Wobjam: Plausible explanation ! Thanks. DL should have already done that a long time ago.
If Duolingo is not going to specify with say, you (f), or, as they do on occasion, with 'you all', then they should accept all of the above: 'piangi', 'piange','piangete'. Otherwise they create uneccessary confusion.
- 1207
I have seen "perché" written with accento acuto (é) and accento grave (è). Following the comments, you can see that there is some confusion. I believe that "perché" with accento acuto is correct. Can someone verify this?
6/13/19 Still no correct options in multiple choice. It still only offers piange which would be okay to use if Lei (formal or polite form for You) also was included in the multiple choices to relay a question to someone unfamiliar (Perché piange Lei?).
My laptop does not have the accent key. The answer is correct except the accent.
- 2547
There were two correct choices here. I selected only one of them which was: Perché piangi. I was marked wrong for not having also selected: Perché piange. How is that second answer also correct for: "Why do you cry"?
Someone please tell me why the correct option is "Perché piange" instead of "piangi"?! This must be a mistake, right? Grazie.
On the multiple choice version of this question, the correct answer has a misspelling - it shows up as Perché piange, not Perché piangi. There was nowhere in the report option to select an error in the Italian sentence, only the English one.
- 653
Now it is offered PERCHÉ PIANGE as the only variant, there's nither PIANGI or PIANGETE . 10.09.19
Duo must have it wrong! Why have they put "Perche piange" Should be " piangi or piangete"
"Mia sorella (=lei)piange spesso" My sister ofte cries/ "Perché piange" was translated "Why do you cry?" Why?
Why is "perché piange" considered correct? Piange is a third person conjugation, buy "you" is a second person pronoun
After all of the sections I've completed, this is the first time I've ever heard of the formal singular Lei! I thought Voi covered both formal singular and informal/formal plural. Frustrating! This will take quite the adjustment to get used to and I think it should have been addressed sooner.
It accepts "Perché piange" for "Why do you cry" instead of "... piangi".. Is that correct?
Wait, I haven't seen anything from the formal singulars. Is it the formal you here? But it's weaird the app asks me before it teaches me such an important subject.
today the only choice existing was : Preché piange instead of Piangi... typo in the lesson .... It was a little confusing.
There is no typo, both are OK "Perché piangi?" --> "Why do you cry?" (informal) "Perché piange?" --> "Why do you cry (Sir, Ma'm") (formal)
thanks a lot for your answer! I wasn't aware of this form as it was in no lesson until now...
conjugation form of a verb in 3rd singular person is in Italian also used for formal/polite addressing someone who we do not know, who deserves the respect, in Italy almost always someone who's elderly. Same with imperative forms, but there is some confusion here, as the verb's endings do differ. I'm sure you know how to say "scusi" "scusi" is a polite/formal form as in imperative this is the 3rd singular person (do not be fooled by the "i" ending, that how it goes in imperative. "scusa" on another hand is just informal way to address your friend ("a' ending is in 2nd singular person, this confuses a lot of people so before you you press "CONFIRM' button always think twice about which person it is, formal/informal form, and is it imperative? to avoid common mistakes) if you are not sure, use this: https://www.wordreference.com/conj/ItVerbs.aspx?v=scusare
Can someone tell me why piangere is not a reflexive verb? If sedersi (e.g we seat ourselves) and riposarsi (e.g. I rest myself), why doesn't piangere (you cry yourself)?
Good question. So it is not, just it is not. Take it as it is. That's it. But as every language is different in some languages "to cry" can be both (reflexive and not) so you could for example "cry yourself to death". But as I see not in Italian. if you have any doubts, you can always check any verb here: https://www.wordreference.com/iten/piangere
I was only given the option of "piange". Is this possible for a formal you cry?
I'm only offered 'piange' as an option, not piangi - and it was marked correct. Why? I was looking for piangi, and piange doesn't look right to me at all.
Why is it perché piange? I was looking for piangi but that was not an option to chose from. A bit confused now
"Perché piange?" means "Why does he/she cry?" and also (which is the case of above sentence) "Why do You cry?" (when "You" is in a formal form: Sir/Madam)
There seems to be a mistake. The correct word, "piangi", is not in the choices. Instead, "piange" is in the choices and is accepted as correct,
why not piangi which is correct for tu? why is piange the correct word in the exercise?
The only word for to cry in this exercise is piange, which is a wrong congregation for you. Could this be corrected?
Due has the correction as Perche piange? But here they are saying Perche piangi. What do they want. They marked mine incorrect Perche tu piangi?
I had to translate "Perché piangi"(why do you cry) then on this one I had to translate "why do you cry" but the only option was "Perché piange" not "perché piangi" meaning why do YOU cry. I got it correct but not im understanding the change here or is it an error?
- “Perché piangi” is correct.
- “Perché piange” is also correct
“piange” is a formal/polite form of you
- 1073
The buttons available only allowed to answer "perché piange" and this was accepted as correct. But is wrong as it should say "perché piangi", right?
Why (voi) piangiate rather than piange? Is there any other reason to use voi other than to say "you all cry" ? Which sounds a little weird. Is it using the imperative?
No, it is not imperative
piangete (not piangiate)
these are correct:
- perché piangi
- perché piange
I think for ”perché piangiete” (which is grammatically correct) they would use something like ”why do you all cry”
- 776
I chose correctly but this came up as piange not piangi. There was only piange not plagiarism available to choose between
In this case both are correct, so yo can translate it as:
Perché piangi
or
Perché piange
- 742
I was offered a choice of three alternative answers. Two were clearly wrong as they involved 'tu racconti'. So I opted for the other one, 'Perché piange?' which was correct, but why is the choice not 'perché piangi?' ? I think maybe it's a different tense, but if so it's one that hasn't been covered yet. (I'm doing DL on a tablet)
Actually both are correct.
- “Perché piangi” - “Why do you cry”
- “Perché piange” - “Why do You cry”
“piange” is a formal/polite form of ”You cry”
No, there are not the same:
- io piango
- tu piangi
- lui/lei/Lei piange
- noi piangiamo
- voi piangete
- loro/Loro, piangono.
Check my previous comment: https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/627797?comment_id=46999972
Perche tu piangi, the informal usage, is also correct. DL considers "perche piange" the only correct answer. It is not.
of course it is not,
and Duo accepts both:
- “Perché piangi” (but without tu)
- “Perché piange”
- 896
Surely this sentence is actually why does one cry, which in English is generally stated as why do you cry. In Italian, I believe that this use of you (one) is the 3rd person.
It is not the 3rd person, it is formal ”you”
These translations are correct:
- “Perché piangi”
- “Perché piange” (formal/polite “you”)
- “Perché piangete” (plural “you”)
It is correct
All these translations are correct:
- “Perché piangi”
- “Perché piange” (formal/polite “you”)
- “Perché piangete” (plural “you”)
All these translations are correct:
- “Perché piangi”
- “Perché piange” (formal/polite “you”)
- “Perché piangete” (plural “you”)
In the last question, by mistake I wrote 'perche piange', andwas marked wrong to the question 'why do you cry' this time I correctly wrote 'perche piangi' but an alternative was given, 'perche piange' so why was it marked wrong if it is okay?
What was that last question?
Because ”Why do you cry” translates to Italian as:
- “Perché piangi”
- “Perché piange”
- “Perché piangete”
All three are correct
- 698
why is DL only giving me piange as an option when i haven't reached the Formal lesson yet
That’s not true
These all are accepted by Duo:
- “Perché piangi”
- “Perché piange”
- “Perché piangete”
- 1013
No it's wrong!!! You use "piange" with the third person he/she - LUI/LEI piange in this case the correct translation is "perché (tu) piangi?" Bye
piange is 3rd person, but is also a formal/polite form of addressing someone, so it means:
“Why do you cry (Sir/M’am)?”
So it’s correct and accepted here.