- Forum >
- Topic: Italian >
- "I ragazzi mangiano il pane."
78 Comments
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!
133
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).
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".
133
It should be reported. "Ragazzi" does not mean children, it means boys (or mixed gender). Children translates as "bambini".
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.
257
Is the definite article optional as in 'loro mangiano pane' and 'i ragazzi mangiano il pane'?
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.
133
Actually it's because of Latin: neuter was very similar to masculine and in modern languages they were united.
1684
Today your robot doesn't understand a word I say. Other days she understands every word. I don't get it.