"He visits his friend."
Translation:Lui va a trovare il suo amico.
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I understand why, in the Infinitive Verbs section, we are using this translation, but why is "He visits" made so difficult when "Lui visita il suo amico" means the same thing?
The literal translation of the inital answer is "He goes to find his friend". That is far different than visiting a friend.
Perhaps it is the word "visits" that doesn't belong, in that case-- or have we stumbled upon another common idiom?
It's an idiom. Andare a trovare means to go and see or to look up or to visit.
Thanks, Viaggiatore. That makes it clearer now...just another idiom to learn. Gosh knows, all languages must have some, if not, many!
Idioms give character to the language. I find myself enjoying them when they show up in DL, and I guess that's a good thing.
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The absence of long-evolved idioms is one reason I have little interest in Klingon et al.
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Thank you!!! This makes it much clearer. ... May be Duolingo could add a note, or some kind of hint, when an idiom comes up.
My MO is to answer the question, flip over to the internet to check it, then go back. It’s working, as there are fewer changes needed as I become more familiar with the language.
I expect you know the answer to this by now, but for the benefit of anyone else going through the tree:
'Visitare' is used for 'to visit' only in certain contexts. It implies an examination - you use it for example when you say you 'visit' your doctor.
'Andare a trovare' or 'venire a trovare' are used for 'to visit' in other contexts. If you are talking to the person you are visiting, you use 'venire a trovare', otherwise you use 'andare a trovare'.
Here is a guide: http://italian.engagedthinking.com/lessons/Lesson_194.pdf
So, would I translate 'Why don't you come visit me?' as 'Perche non mi vieni a trovare?'
'Va DA trovare' means 'goes to find', while 'va A trovare' is an idiom like viaggiatore pointed out, and mean 'visit'. So only one word (in this case a preposition) can make a difference!
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In the common language you never going to use the "fa visita" form, maybe only in a real ceremonious context
Just for the record "lui visita il suo amico" is accepted as a correct answer (Sept.'20). I appreciate the explanations given in this thread, but would appreciate it more if DL indicated that the phrase they're requesting we translate is an idiom.
Can someone translate these three English sentences?
He is going to visit his friend.
He visits his friend.
He is visiting his friend.
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Well! Thank you all! Live and learn! ...but what is the difference between visiting one's parents, say, or going to find them (if they were missing or in a crowd)?
Thats how i feel. Im new to Italian, but isn't there 7 different verb tenses, so "to go and visit should be different from "to visit, and from "is visiting
After seeing the suggested correct answer I understand that the preferred way to say that is to use trovare. But I would like to know what was wrong with my sentence "Lui va vedere il suo amico." Is it grammatically incorrect? Or doesn't it have the same meaning as the English sentence?
that is why it is 'va a trovare' (to go and find), which in italian means to visit
He goes to find his fried is the same as he visits his friend? That doesn't mean the same thing to me.
Dear Duolingo, Here is a thought:
Why don't you write everything in the language that the person is trying to learn? i.e If i am trying to learn Italian and I speak english, (Write this in Italian) should be written in Italian.
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this is one of those idioms that show up from time to time. Lui visitare il suo amico means the same thing.
Wouldn't it make more sense to translate this as "Lui visita il suo amico." and to translate "Lui va a trovare/vedere il suo amico." as "He goes to see his friend.", Or does "Visitare" only mean to visit a place, Not a person?
EDIT: Actually, come to think of it, There is a distinct difference between going to see someone and visiting them, To me atleast "Visiting" someone or somewhere implies staying there for a while, A few days atleast, While "Going to see" implies something more brief, Maybe a few hours or a day at most, So I guess how to translate it really depends on which the Italian "Andare a Trovare/Vedere" is closer in meaning to.
Lui visita il suo amica - was accepted yesterday and rejected today!!
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That would be He GOES to FIND his friend. How are we supposed to guess this?! Reason number 4598 why I won't pay for Duolingo.
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Visiting your friend is one thing, going to find your friend is another. NO need for an infinitive in the first instance. The second one implies a possibility that you don't find your friend, so won't have been able to visit him....