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- "Is your father seventy years…
"Is your father seventy years old?"
Translation:Vostro padre ha settant'anni?
67 Comments
1617
What is the rest of your sentence? Next time, copy and paste your entire answer in the discussion, so we can tell if there's some other error in it. For example (as I learned the hard way), Duo does not accept ha tuo/vostro padre settant'anni
319
The possessive adjective isn't preceded by the article when it is before the name of a relative in the singular: padre, madre,, figlio....
You can't use an article before a possessive and a close family member if it's singular and unmodified: "mia madre", "la mia madrina", "la mia madre adottiva", "le mie madri". If it were "mamma" (mom/mum) it would be a little different because it can be interpreted as a modification of madre, so "mia mamma", "la mia mamma", or even "la mamma".
12
Yes, that's what tripped me up. I knew when speaking of your own father, it should be mio padre without the il but wasn't aware that the rule applied to others' close relatives, as in tuo padre, etc.
I'm guessing from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/italian-english/di-settanta-anni and http://context.reverso.net/traduzione/italiano-inglese/settanta+anni (which has plenty of examples) that the contraction is not mandatory in Italian. Maybe Duolingo's Italian team just didn't think to include the uncontracted form?
1617
Sorry, my Italian isn't quite good enough to understand your question. This is Italian for English-speakers.
496
This makes no sence. The only way to learn italian by duolingo is with french or english. My original language is dutch. These confusing answers take away the joy of learning a language.
319
"suo padre" o "vostro padre " is correct because it is a formal way to ask the question ( suo/vostro = your ); "tuo padre.." is informal ( tuo = your)
statements and questions are written in the same way. In written sentences only question marks can indicate the difference.
As to spoken Italian you should use a tone in your voice to indicate that you are infact asking a question and not making a statement.
"Tuo padre ha settant'anni." = Your father is 70 years old. "Tuo padre ha settant'anni ?" = Is your father 70 years old?
I agree with that. We're not mind readers. How are we supposed to know it's plural? I hope they read these posts at 'Duolingo' because this happens all the time on this app. They won't accept other correct responses because they somehow expect you to know what they want you to say, and that's the only answer they'll accept. It's very annoying!
Why is my "Tuo padre ha settant' anni?" seen as incorrect? How am I supposed to know we're talking plural here? Should I just automatically assume this for future reference? Please tell me because this cost me part of my bonus points and I'm pretty sure my answer is also a correct translation, but do tell me if I'm wrong...after all I'm here to learn.