"I ragazzi mangiano il pane."

Translation: The boys eat bread.

[jd12386]

Shouldn’t it be (The boys eat the bread) what happen to the other (The)

[Viaggiatore]

Sometimes for a kind of "stuff", like bread, Italian uses the article and English doesn't. So according to context this could be "The boys eat bread" or "The boys eat the bread".

[MochidoesItalian]

witch nouns Have to have the article there and witch ones don't?

[Teri682732]

Dont get magic involved

[Sorren8]

if a noun doesn't sound right, without an article, use a, an, or the.

[jd12386]

Thanks

[Beln544426]

I also answered like this, but it's wrong

[Scensful]

Isn't Gli ragazzi?

[MaraLauraR4]

Il ragazzo - i ragazzi

L'astuccio - gli astucci

All these articles mean THE and are used for italian masculine words. IL is singular, used when the following word begins with a consonant.

L' is also singular (masculine AND feminine!) but used with words beginning with a vowel.

When making the plurals "IL" becomes "i" and "L'" becomes "GLI" (in masculine words!!! With feminine words L' becomes LE)

Hope this helps!

[truthseeker491]

oh I get it now, thanks

[MochidoesItalian]

Gli is for men (ex. Gli Uomini bevono vino)

[berthasuttner]

Caused by the "u" of uomo it has to be "gli" instead of "i". Right?

[MochidoesItalian]

yea anything with a vowel at the bigining has gli as the article when it changes to plural im not sure about feminine nouns with a vowel though

[Viaggiatore]

For the feminine, you can say "le isole" for "the islands".

[31std]

Hmm... I thought that 'children' = 'bambini'

[Duolessio]

You are right. "bambini" is used for children (about 1-9). "ragazzi" is used for teenagers, while the left 10-12yo can be called "ragazzini" (-ini is diminutive).

[deactivated user]

the sentence is about a specific gender of children.

[DianePerez3]

They are but so is ragazzi

[DianePerez3]

Actually i think bambini is little children

[mellykim]

I have just started learning Italian on this site from scratch and am loving it. However I have now got myself confused. I put il instead of l'. Why is this wrong? Is it that il is singular and l' is plural? And is l' masculine only?

[gabrielbap2]

l' is for nouns that start with vowels, like l'acqua.

[Viaggiatore]

Yup.

[Xiamantwi]

Even when referring to a group of children consisting only of girls?

[Viaggiatore]

If you know they're girls you say le ragazze.

[Xiamantwi]

That's what I thought.
I was tasked with translating "I ragazzi mangiano il pane" into English.
I translated it as "The boys eat the bread"

However, I was marked as wrong. With the answer being:
"The children eat the bread".

So to be clear:

If you know the group of children are all boys; you say "I ragazzi".

If you know the group of children are all girls; you say "Le ragazze".

If you don't know either way; you say "I ragazzi".

[Viaggiatore]

And if it's a mixed group you say i ragazzi. The male gender is the default.

[Xiamantwi]

Ah OK. Thank you very much my friend.

[Duolessio]

It should be reported. "Ragazzi" does not mean children, it means boys (or mixed gender). Children translates as "bambini".

[petepete16]

Shouldn't "Il" be translated to "the" as well?

[smozoma]

It's a language grammar difference. For example, in French, they refer to countries using 'the.' La France (The France). But in English, we just say France. Same thing here, with foods like bread and fish, Italian uses 'the', but it's usually not necessary in English, unless it's a specific fish or piece of bread.

[xarcnic]

One sentence it's "mangiano" the next it's "mangono" what's the difference?

[Viaggiatore]

There is no form "mangono" for "mangiare."

[MochidoesItalian]

what do you put for they eat then?

[AngelKille]

Mangiano

[gypsy57]

Is the definite article optional as in 'loro mangiano pane' and 'i ragazzi mangiano il pane'?

[samuelzac]

Same question as gypsy57. Also, why does the translation show just 'eat bread' and not 'eat the bread' (albeit accepting both) when it has a definite article 'il' meaning 'the'?

[london622]

I write "il ragazzi" but is "i ragazzi", I do not see the difference...

[mellykim]

Hi london622 - I think I've got it now! Il is the singular masculine definite article therefore it would be il ragazzo - ragazzo = boy. Changing the o to I at the end makes it boys - ragazzi - therefore you have to change the singular masculine definitive article into the plural one - from il to I.
For the girl it would be la ragazza, for the girls it would be le ragazze. Hope that helps.

[Ivan184]

Please be my friend mellykim

[boxcarrobert]

Many thanks for the explanation

[jtorcello]

Ugh i understand the rules with ragazze, ragazza, etc. vs. ragazzi but when the lady speaks its impossible to decIde what she said!!!

[JEYLIN19]

How raggazi is boys but not boy :)

[JEYLIN19]

Aaa thank you dulingo friends now i now Im am thinking dat il pane the beef

[AlphaWolf764]

I put "the boy eats the bread" and it said wrong!??!

[JakeBottic]

"Il pane" is "the bread" yeah? Not just "bread"?

[6o1n8]

But please ,why is "the bread" in English wrong ... That's ridiculous

[Xiamantwi]

So can "I ragazzi" mean 'The children' as well as 'The boys'?

[flaoxxx]

If I have learned english good enough, "the boys" means "i ragazzi" (boys who are over 14 years) and "the children" means "i ragazzini", (the children who are from 6-7 to 13 years).

I would ask you all a question: could "children" be used for babies under 4-5 years? Thanks for the answers. :-)))

[tinakatz]

Sometimes we do. But the term that is most used and common is "toddlers".

[VJTJR]

what is the article used prior to ragazzi? I used I but was marked wrong? I don't know my mistake. thank you

[Viaggiatore]

It would have to be "i". Did you hit the wrong key?

[VJTJR]

I must have!.
Thank you
Victor

[mcwaterc]

The boys eat bread.

[mcwaterc]

OMG you have a great sense of humor. ha ha ha

[JessY_RogeR]

European languages are male dominated, lol :/

[Duolessio]

Actually it's because of Latin: neuter was very similar to masculine and in modern languages they were united.

[QueenBlueStar]

So, mangiano means to eat but it's for the pronoun they. Not only that, but it apparently can be used for girls/women and boys/men as well?

Loro mangiano il pane - They eat the bread

I ragazzi/gli uomini/le ragazze/le donne mangiano il pane - The boys/men/girls/women eat the bread

Is this correct?

[AshleyKay125]

That's what i need to know and i believe you're correct

[mansoalexander]

Ragazzi doesnt mean kids lol Duolingo is wack

[juwe15]

Hi gay am confess about this sentence i use, the boys eat the bread.

[Annie246557]

I rype it correctly it calls it incorrect

[JanaHatoum]

so mangiano is written whe followed with a plural subject... except when written after We it becomes Mangiamo and mangia is for the singlar subjects ?

[Chrissy82725]

How do you know not to say "the" infront of pane?

[SrijanaBar]

Il pane is the bread..than why the is omitted

[MLK162142]

I know i got it wrong but it is ok they are helping us so all i say is thank you duolingo

[TiagoMiral]

Il is the article the, but it says it is wrong

[rea121204]

Its fuak

[Enrico438513]

the instruction is "tap what you hear" but i can't hear "il pane" i just hear "pane"....there have been lots of lessons like that.....italian's talk too fast :p :p

[MarianWrig]

There is no "il"

[mahla_p004]

Why does it remove (the) for bread??? There is (il) before the (pane)!! somebody answer please

[AuntieE]

Today your robot doesn't understand a word I say. Other days she understands every word. I don't get it.

[SamanthaJeffs]

I used "girl" instead of "boys" and the app has told me i should have used "guys" which does not correlate with the above comments. Bug? Or is guys (male) also acceptable?

[nallelyfg09]

I put in "The boys eat the bread" but it said it was wrong and put in "The boys eat the bread.".....

[cuongdaihiep]

Everyone eats bread :))

[JEYLIN19]

Goof

[Morrigan_Yill]

..ььь

[Morrigan_Yill]

Ррро

[D-n-Dweeb]

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