"Why do you cry?"
Translation:Perché piangi?
128 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
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.
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.
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)
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. :)
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?
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.
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?
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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"?
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Now it is offered PERCHÉ PIANGE as the only variant, there's nither PIANGI or PIANGETE . 10.09.19
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
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
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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?
776
I chose correctly but this came up as piange not piangi. There was only piange not plagiarism available to choose between
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)
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
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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.
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why is DL only giving me piange as an option when i haven't reached the Formal lesson yet
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