"His steak does not have salt."
Translation:La sua bistecca non ha sale.
28 Comments
La sua bistecca non ha il sale questa è la risposta giusta oppure la sua bistecca non è salata!
Technically yes, but it feels as bad as "of him"; nonetheless, it is used. It's also often used for a bureaucratic or archaic effect, usually in inverted order, as "la di lui bistecca". It's rare in real life though :)
1939
There are exceptions (unless you're dealing with something like Esperanto, there are always exceptions), but in general, the rule of thumb is this:
| If the word ends in... | Then it's... |
|---|---|
| -o | masculine singular |
| -i | masculine plural |
| -a | feminine singular |
| -e | feminine plural |
There are some words that end in -e in the singular and -i in the plural, and you just have to memorize whether they're masculine or feminine.
And then there are foreign loan words that end in whatever they end in (like "yogurt") and they're almost always masculine and don't change in the plural.
As for which definite article to use...
That leaves the question how to indicate the person we speak about. La sua bistecca ... can be his or her steak. How do I add the persons gender, if i want to clarify the case? In a conversation I would tend to: Giovanni's bistecca non ha il sale or Chiara's bistecca ha troppo sale. Just as example...
- 1939
I made an error and wrote "sala" instead of "sale". The explanation of why I was wrong was itself wrong:
You used the singular "sala" here, instead of the plural "sale".
There is no appropriate option for reporting it, though.
- 1939
Because the possessive forms must agree with what is possessed, not with who possesses it. "Bistecca" is feminine, therefore the possessive must be feminine, regardless of whose it is.
Wouldn't it be okay to say "La sua bistecca non ha la sale"? I thought the definite article "la" would be acceptable in this case.
I think it sounds better without the article. I will never understand why that has to be repetitive.
- 506
exactly, it's seemed really inconsistent recently how sometimes i get marked wrong by adding the article, but then sometimes it's correct. very confusing.
- 1516
In multiple choice I selected both of these options, however the second was marked wrong:
"La sua bistecca non ha sale."
"La propria bistecca non ha sale."
It seems like a valid (though perhaps slightly less accurate) translation to me, however I still struggle with Proprio.
Can anyone clarify?
Oh gahd people! Just roll with the flow.. c; That's what I do, I believe what this app shows me. xD
Roll with the flow? Not if you are trying to learn a language properly, or why be here? Maybe you should take English more seriously.
Why is it "la sua" if it's "his"? I thought that possessive words were determined by the gender of the person
It is different in Italian. While in English the gender of the possessive pronoun matches the possessor, in Italian it matches the possessed subject!
Possessive pronouns are adjectives, they take gender and number of the noun they refer to.
