67 Comments
It's difficult to decide how literally to translate these sentences. To make good English from the Italian text you can end up with an 'incorrect' answer
Exactly. That's why you really must think in the target language rather than translating from the other.
Agree. The closest translation in english would be 'I have a bit of an appetite', but that would never be accepted as 'appetite' strictly translates as 'appetito'. The deficiencies of Duo!
If typos like "dont" are accepted instead of "don't", then so shall the typos like "po" instead of "po'" should be accepted.
I know the correct form is po'. But it's just a little frustrating to see it count wrong just because i felt lazy to reach the apostrophe.
Assuming you properly know your native language and assuming you know a language you are learning are two different things.
420
It is grammatically correct, yet it doesn't sound right. I guess it's because "ho un po' di fame" is an expression.
- 404
‧ po' ‧ is a ‧ poco ‧ truncation, not an elision. A space follows the apostrophe in a truncation contrarily to no apostrophe following space in an elision.
Troncamento con apostrofo ‧ In pochi casi, il troncamento viene indicato con l’apostrofo: po’ (poco), mo’ (modo), di’, fa’, va’, sta’, da’ (forme dell’imperativo dei verbi dire, fare, andare, stare, dare). ‧ Non bisogna confondere da’ (dai) e dà (egli dà). ‧ italiaitaliano.blogspot.com/2011/01/elision-e-troncamento-con-apostrofo.html
www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/un-po-o-un-po_(La_grammatica_italiana)/
po' (with the apostrophe) ‧ poco truncation ‧ www.italki.com/question/302359?hl=en-us
The apostrophe is commonly used also in ‧ un po’ ‧ a bit, ‧ a mo’ di ‧ by way of, and may be used in the imperatives ‧ da’ give ‧ di’ say ‧ fa’ do ‧ sta’ stay ‧ va’ go ‧ There is a space between the apostrophe and the following word. books.google.com/books?isbn=1136132767
Famished means very hungry. Ho fame means I'm hungry, or literally "I have hunger". (fame=hunger). Famine in English is obviously a lot more extreme than hunger and wouldn't be used in everyday language...
I'd disagree. Have you never heard anyone say "I'm starving". Yes, it is an overstatement; unless you want to argue that 'famished' is somehow worse than 'starving'.
I am starting to notice the similarities between Italien and Dutch. In Dutch you say 'ik heb honger' litterly saying 'i have hunger' like in the sentence here.
In any language there is a common translation and a literal one, just because duo wants a specific answer which most of the time is pure guess work doesn't make the other wrong. If any of you are lucky enough to go to these countries to try out your linguistic skills you'll find the natives in any country will generally know what you mean, being understood is the most important thing, don't get hung up on perfection, most people will appreciate you trying.
- 420
Because that's not English. Your hunger is never little. You need to refer to it using sentences such as 'I am slightly hungry'.
thats not true.. i would use i have a little hunger. or i am hungry... if its more it instantly becomes i am starving...
It might be correct sentence but no one actually says "I have hunger" instead of "I'm hungry"...
Yes, I was constantly being yelled at by my Italian friends that there is no such word in Italian as "de" lol. After much beating of my head, I finally just learned that there is "da" or "di" but no "de". :-) Good luck!
- 420
"de" is not current Italian. It is only used in some sentences ("Il giornalista de La Repubblica"). If you hear it in Italy, then the speaker is probably speaking one of the many local languages (dialects).
I have a little hungry is the literal translation of this sentence. The reason it's not correct is because English and Italian express the concept of feeling hungry differently.
In English we use the verb to be because we think of "hungry" is something you are - ie. I am hungry, he is hungry, we are hungry, etc. In Italian they use the verb avere (to have) because they think of "hungry" as something you have - ie. Ho fame, lui ha fame, abbiamo fame, etc
That's why you can't translate the sentence "Ho un po' di fame" as "I have a little hungry" but you have to translate it as "I am a little hungry".
hungry is an adjective, but a noun is needed
hunger is the noun ...
So: I have a little hunger is possible, but not the normal or idiomatic way to say this.
In idiomatic English, a person is more likely to be hungry (I am a little hungry) than to have hunger.
(As an adjective, in your sentence, hungry is waiting for a noun after it, for example: I have a little hungry horse.)
What happened to the option "My answer should have been accepted," when reporting this?
@iVixey We don't have po, better we have Po, (without apostrophe), but it's a river, the longest in Italy.
@PinkHill552 I'm hungry a little bit means "sono un po' affamato", but also "ho un po' di fame" and if it's correct in English, but I would think it's better "I'm a little bit hungry", then you can use it. I'm not a native English speaker, so I can't be helpful... Italian yes, English no.
I wrote, "I have a bit of hunger" and it corrected me with "I am a little hungry", is that not the same thing?!
@Qbz10... no, it doesn't make any sense. Sto is from the verb stare (stay, but there are other verbs), so you say... I stay a bit hungry... maybe in English it means something, but not in Italian.
@David260430 No, no sense... po is wrong without the apostrophe... we have Po (without apostrophe, but it's a river). You have to use the verb "avere" (to have)... io ho un po' fame or better io ho un po' di fame...
I am = "io sono", ho un = "I have a". Shouldn't it be "Io sono un po' di fame"??
- 420
You are trying to translate literally from English to Italian. But this is an expression and Italian uses "avere fame" instead of "to be hungry". The same goes for how age is expressed (It: "ho 18 anni", En: "I am 19 y. o.").
There is actually a form that matches the English one. It's "essere affamato" ("sono/sei/è/siamo/siete/sono affamato/a/i/e".
I think it's like "I have hunger". Fame, like in French faim, means hunger. Hungry is feeling hunger, hence I am hungry = " I am feeling hunger"
Nooo! Because that's not how Italians say it. Just accept the idiomatic elements of another language.
There is no way I could actually use this sentence. I never knew you could use "Ho" as a way to say "I am" or "I'm".
You're learning another language and have to accept that this is the way it works. No doubt you therefore also don't like "Ho quaranta anni" for "I'm 40 years old"
