"Come si scrive il tuo nome?"
Translation:How do you write your name?
41 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
For this level, I've had to do some extra research about indirect, direct, and reflexive pronouns. This particular sentence has a construct with "si" that has foiled me several times, but I found a good explanation of how it works. Here, the "si" is operating as an impersonal reflexive pronoun. Here is a website with a good explanation: http://www.netplaces.com/italian-practice/the-impersonal-si-piacere-commands/the-impersonal-si-construction.htm
Thanks! Here is a similar page I found with a link that wotks 31/07/20 https://www.lifeinitaly.com/italian/reflexive-verbs-iii/#:~:text=The%20reflexive%20pronouns%20(i%20pronomi,the%20reflexive%20pronouns%20in%20Italian.
Using scrivi it would translate as "how do YOU write your name". You need to use the scrive form to translate as "how is your name written". Hope this helps.
Thanks, AndreAndrez, I wondered about scrivi/scrive. Literally the Italian says: How is written your name? That explains the scrive.
I wrote "how do you write your name?" and it was accepted. March 2022.
The name is the subject, literally: "How does your name write itself?" In German one would say similarly: "Wie schreibt sich dein Name?"
I think that the most accurate translation here is: How is your name written?
1-How is your name written? come si scrive il tuo nome? The verb used here is the reflexive verb: "scriversi".
It could also be the verb "scrivere" with the "passive si". the litteral translation would be: how do people write your name?
2- How do you write your name? come scrivi il tuo nome? (informal) come scrive il suo nome? (formal) The verb used here is : "scrivere"
Am I wrong?
I always translate this one literally and it usually helps. 'How [does] one write your name?' In Duo's translation: 'How do you write your name?' the first 'you' is referring to people in general. Hope this helped anyone having trouble.
1118
I think this should be Duo's standard translation in these cases. Though sounding very formal in English, this is the precise meaning of 'se/si' in these instances, an impersonal pronoun.
I msde thispoint, then saw you already had. Helpful explanation. Thank you.
I don't understand the difference between si and se. Why not "come se scrivi il tuo nome"?
"Se" is "if" or "herself". Why exactly "si" and not "se" - I don't know for sure. But I think "se" is feminine, and "si" is masculine, maybe.
After some investigation, it seems this falls under the category of Passive Impersonal statements, or 'passivante' voice. I would have translated this statement in English to 'how is your name written'? In this formula, you use the passive particicle si (the smae as teh reflexive pronoun si), and conjugate the verb in the third person singular or plural (depending if the subject is singular or plural). There is ALWAYS an object. You can read more about it here: https://www.thoughtco.com/using-the-passive-voice-in-italian-4050932
- 886
I've got two thoughts, either you didn't see the previous answers explaining why, or you didn't understand them. Going with not understanding, I'll try to explain.
The Italian Come si scrive... is better read/translated as 'How does one write...'; but since that comes across as very formal in English, my guess is DL shows it in English as 'how do you write'. Without the si before scrive, we would have 'how does s/he write'. The si changes that to 'oneself/one's self/one', which leads us to the third-person 'you' (vs the second-person 'you').
In case I've just muddied the waters, look at these explanations:
https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/633689?comment_id=3125268
https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/633689?comment_id=633690
https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/633689?comment_id=28773741
- 2922
I think in another example "si+ third person singular" was translated as "we do something". So shouldn't " how do we write your name" be a valid translation here?
No. "Si + 3rd personal verb" means a reflexive verb. So "si scrive" means smth like "writes itself". But in English (in this case) we use Passive.
So it's like passive voice in English, si scrive = be written. That makes sense by using scrive rather than scrivi
Wonder why: "how do we write your name" is not excepted. "We" as in the general "we".
It would be helpful if Duo would explain how this works instead of suddenly presenting us with Come si scrive.... The comment from JennaHO was totally enlightening - thank you!!
- 478
"How does one write your name?" is perfectly good English AND marked correct Dec 21. One might suspect that DL understands this.
