68 Comments
This sentence, in my opinion, does not translate well, I find it very confusing!
You know. (Sai) How are (come son) Boys (i ragazzi) You know how are the boys.
The grammar is set up different, but it translates perfectly. You're just not used to the grammar. It's okay! It's very confusing at first but Latin grammar makes a lot of sense once you get used to it.
It's confusing because directly translating this to English makes it sound like you are talking about specific boys, not boys in general. I translated it as You know how the boys are like and that's way off. I might have gotten it right if it was just "ragazzi" instead of "i ragazzi" because in English that is a specifying word. It definitely is just needing to get used to the grammar, but it is very confusing until you can figure out when il/lo/la/i/gli/le is specifying and when it is not
715
I think that it still makes sense even if referring to specific boys.
'They got Ingrid some flowers. You know how the boys are - they're very sweet'
'I've not seen them in a week, so you tell her - you know how the boys are'
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I agree. I often find myself makes mistakes because I missed an i/il/lo/la/gli/le or because I included it when it wasn't needed. I particularly have problems with the L' in l'acqua. Sometimes I use it and they say I'm wrong, sometimes I don't use it and I'm wrong. I feel as if it's just one of those colloquialisms that we need to get used to.
You shouldn't in English either but there was no other way to get the answer correct.
Guys, it's like two girls talking and then one of them says "Omg, i'm so tired of him being like that to me!" and the another one says "Well, you know how boys are".
It means: don't expect anything different from them.
I'm not Italian, but I speak portuguese and that is a common expression to us too x))
That's cool. Thanks for looking on my comment as constructive criticism :-)
Double negatives seem to be used a lot these days, and for someone to attempt to correct it tends to result in a troll attack. So it's nice to see that this site is full of nice people who really do want to learn :-)
I could have/should have expanded on what I said and perhaps flowered it up some (where did I get that phrase from!), but damn hay fever was doing my head in and I'm surprised I was able to put even that together :-) Obviously feeling a LOT better now :D
Good luck and enjoy your studies :-)
I think that technically everybody on Duo wants to learn xD being on Duo is not something one would do if one didn't want to ^^ thank you for the tip ^^ I still have a lot to learn about English. It's good that people correct me when it's needed so I can get even better ^^
Good luck on your studies too o/
Double negatives are commonly used in Romance Languages. Think of them as emphasis vs canceling each other out.
Yes but in English as you have so rightly said it is 'how boys are' not "how the boys are' which is my problem with this. Awkward and would not be said - maybe it is REQUIRED by the Italian though and that is not clear - not in English but must in Italian?
- 715
We definitely would say 'you know how the boys are' in other contexts.
"Did you spend much time as a family on your holiday?" "You know how the boys are, they just wanted to be on the climbing wall the whole time".
I believe that Italian requires a word to be used before 'ragazzi', e.g. 'how the boys are', 'how all boys are', 'how our boys are'.
When using 'i ragazzi', however, it isn't clear if the speaker is referring to boys in general or specific boys, so you'd have to pick this up from context.
It could be used as an expression or just as saying the literal sentence. I hope Italians say that! :D
i'm not an english native, but "you know what children are like" sounds fine to me
Yes, although some grammarians would consider it improper, at least for this meaning.
It's the same but apparently you need to watch for a question mark because it marked me wrong.
So is Conscere "Knowing" an object different to Sapere "Knowing" in thought or what? What's the difference?
Conscere and sapere can both be translated as "to know", but they are different types of knowledge.
Sapere is to know a fact or information; to know a skill, to know how to.
Examples: I know how to cook = So cucinare I know where he lives = So dove abita. I know his name. = So come si chiama.
Conscere is to know someone/something, to be familiar with a person, place or thing. It is often followed by a noun or object pronoun.
Examples: I know Marco = Conosco Marco. I know Rome = Conosco Roma. I know this restaurant = Conosco questo ristorante.
It may help to think of it as Sapere means "To find out" and Conscere means "To meet"
When it comes to people, you may "know" Marco, a person you have met. "Conosco Marco."
but if you have never net him, you may have only heard of Marco, you "know of" Marco: "So di Marco"
Some helpful links: http://smilingeggplant.blogspot.com/2009/08/sapere-and-conoscere.html http://www.sapere.it/sapere/dizionari/traduzioni/Inglese-Italiano/K/KN/to-know.html http://tutorino.ca/grammatica/2007/5/28/sapere-and-conoscere.html http://www.differencebetween.net/language/words-language/difference-between-sapere-and-conoscere/
I am finding that Duo Lingo does not give rules for using certain words but the people taking the lessons are very helpful in sharing what they know and I have been able to use their information to figure out what is going on. I am not very adept at learning languages so sometimes have a real struggle to figure it out. So thanks to everyone for sharing.
I think a native speaker would be a better person than moi to answer this. I'm confused by it myself! I just know that there are two verbs for "to know." After that ... I'm useless! :-)
Is it grammatically correct to put "i ragazzi" after "sono" in this sentence? I'm a little confused about word order :/
another meaning of sapere is 'can' , in that case what is the difference between potere and sapere !!!
I'm not native, but this is my understanding: "sapere" in this sense means to know how, while "potere" in this sense means to be capable. I know how to walk, but, since I broke my leg, I'm not capable. I must be capable of solving this math problem, since I immediately thought of the right answer, but honestly I don't know how I did it.
I thought it would have been " Sai come stanno i ragazzi". Maybe "Sai come stanno i ragazzi?" means "Do you know how the boys are" As in how they are doing. While "Sai come sono i ragazzi" means you know how boys/children are, in more of how boy can be or the "sterotype" of how boys are. Please correct if im wrong. Grazie
Why is it "i ragazzi" and not simply "ragazzi"? I still don't understand why you sometimes use it to mean the and sometimes it's just general
Where has the definitive article ( I => the) disappeared? Lost in translation or what? The translation doesn't sound correct for me!
I wrote "You know how are the boys" and got marked wrong, and said the correct answer was "You know how the boys are". That means the same thing!
The word order isn't correct. Your sentence doesn't make sense in English. It should be 'you know how the boys are' and not vice versa which would almost imply you are asking a question but still would not be correct.
Hi, i believe it's because your sentence brings out a totally different meaning compared to what we are meant to translate.
'You know they like the boys' - 'Sai che a loro piacciono i ragazzi' .....that's how i would translate your sentence.
I guess if you look at it like "You know how them boys are", it's not too far away from English.
"I ragazzi" can be children. The masculine form is dominant when describing any group which contains both boys and girls.
But ragazzi are not children it is used when you speak to people like teenagers or in their 20s...
Teenagers in most cases in society (Atleast American culture) are still considered to be children. Once your 18 19 20 then you become "un uomo" or "una donna". Also probably depends on the age of the speaker saying it. Fot the most part its "i bambini" for the babies or younger children (12 and under), "i ragazzi" for older children/young teens (ages 12-18) and then "gli uomini" or " le donne" for adult men and women.
