"Noi scriviamo agli uomini."
Translation:We write to the men.
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Since gli uomini is the men, would that make agli uomini - to the men? I put "We write to men" as the translation and it was marked incorrect.
"agli" = "a gli" so "agli uomini" directly translates into "to the men" (the preposition and article merge)
You're not writing to any men, but a specific group - "the men". "We write to men" would be "Noi scriviamo a uomini"
We're writing the men...the "to" is redundant in English, and therefore optional. I had an argument with an English teacher who claimed that one could never have an indirect object without a direct object. I won the argument with this sentence. (It's cheating...I know. The direct object is understood...we wrote a letter or a note.)
'to' most definitely isn't redundant in english. it's redundant in american english...
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At least in the Australian version of English, we don't "write (a person)" but "write TO (a person)". The former seems to be acceptable in America.
It's acceptable English. The indirective object in English is observed from word order, and the "to" is often understood. In a sentence like, "He wrote his parents last night," I teach my students to ask questions: "Who wrote"? He did...He is the subject. "Wrote what?" ...a letter or some form of communication. That's the direct object, in this case, unspoken but understood. "Wrote to whom?" ...to his parents. That's the indirect object, with "to" understood. In German, the noun gets an ending to indicate its use...English jettisoned all endings but the genitive, now called "possessive"...'s or s'.
I also wonder why "write Anna" is accepted but "write men" isn't. Does it sound so strange to English native speakers? That people down-vote Sampaio.Marcelo's question seems to indicate that it does. Is it because of the plural?
Exactly like 'a gli', it's a contraction. In Italian the contractions don't use an apostrophe as they would in English. There are several common examples in Italian - de + i = dai, de + lo = dallo, in + lo = nello, in + il = nel, a + i = ai, a + le = alle etc
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I heard this man say, "Non scriviamo agli uomini. I wish the woman's voice was used a little more.
Why does the definition of dallo include "for", but it is not accepted as an answer?
Because it's meaning changes with context and we use different words to express those meanings in English.
Just a couple of sentences ago I could have sworn I was marked wrong for writing agli uomini and the correct answer was all'uomini. Could someone tell me the difference please?
I literally wrote correct answer and it didn't accept, so don't stress about it guys
