"Lui è un uomo in gamba."
Translation:He is a capable man.
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When I am returning to Australia from my grandmother's home town in the North of Italy they say "buona fortuna in gamba" . I think it means "good luck in (your) travels". Up there the only form of transport was walking or horses for centuries. Both involve legs.
My first translation was "He is a leg man," meaning a man who is more attracted by a woman's legs than by her breasts. Shows where my mind is at, I guess.
DL suggested "He is a man on the ball" as an alternate for me. Although I definitely use "He is on the ball" I don't think I have ever used "He is -a man- on the ball" Any other native English speakers think I should suggest correcting this English sentence?
Indeed. Same as "you're on the ball". No one ever says "you are a man on the ball".
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I agree with Mutt & sur- idioms need to be a separate lesson -toward the end - when we're ready for the nuances of the language... and it will be a "piece of cake!" Until then, we're "not playing with a full deck" and "your guess is as good as mine!"
I have always understood 'in gamba' to mean smart or clever. Capable surely isn't the only way to correctly translate this?
I've always understood "in gamba" to correspond to our English expression, "with it," which can have many applications. WordReference also translates it as "on the ball" or "on top of things," and gives "In gamba!" as a way of saying "Take care!" "Capable" seems a rather boring way to translate it.
I also vote for WordReference to help get at the nuances of these expressions.
Wordreference.com also specifically lists the compound form "essere in gamba" as meaning "be very capable".
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Good way to remember the phrase. It's closer to the Italian than what I contrived: a man (who in tough situations) always lands on his feet.
Maybe this idiom has something to do with the Hebrew connection between the word רגיל <rageel> (=used to something/capable of something), derived from the root ר.ג.ל (RGL), and the word רגל <Regel> (=leg) of the same root. So far i've encountered many similar phenomenons, where the Italian association of words was identical to the Hebrew equivalent...
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If the anti idioms are not pulling our leg i think they should toe the line. Some of us want to learn italian as spoken, idioms and all.
Collins Dictionary gives in gamba = in buona salute = well (therefore, presumably, healthy) and = capace, sveglio = bright, smart
Wow! Some of these comments are years old! My Italian relatives always used "in gamba" to mean "in shape" or "doing well". I'm sure different regions have their own nuances for idioms.
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And i agree with you; it looks like no one is interested on doing comments in this page. I think it's a sad situation for us, languages learners, not expressing our feelings. Maybe, we are afraid of making mistakes, not knowing that it is another way of learning. Greeetings!
Funny! In Spanish "gamba" means "prawn" so reading this sentence one cannot avoid picturing a man riding a prawn or sort of.
Phrases like this require the literal translation as well. Especially when other Italian phrases translate to the same meaning such as "È un uomo capace". This would allow the student to understand the euphemism.
If "He is a capable man" is what they wanted as an answer, they should have put "È un uomo capace." There are several different ways to translate this idiom, and then you get marked wrong if you use one of the other translations. That's way too rigid a method for teaching a language; I've noticed this a lot about DuoLingo. It's not a good way to learn idioms.
Why not man on the ball instead of capable man? Same meaning, both given as translations of in gamba?
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German idiom"er ist wieder auf den Beinen"= he's well again. In my language (Estonian) " he has his legs on the ground"= he's realistic
whoever selected this translation got it wrong. I have three dictionaries that say 'in gamba' means 'well' or 'in good health'.
Sorry to say that, but this is totally over the top, Duolingo. We really need a separate section with idioms. This is not helpful at all.
Eessere in gamba means to be in good shape. The "correct" answer in the exercise shows the answer as He is a man on the ball! How in the world would we know all these idioms? Here it shows the answer as He is capable man.
A French friend of mine used to say, "He is in his legs." Maybe this is where that came from.
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Take the idioms out of the medical section.. You're just confusing learners. None of the idioms would be used in the medical world so put them in there own section... Out of harms way!
I agree. If you hear this in speech, you're going to have no idea what it means without being introduced to it, and having it in a section where the word leg is introduced makes perfect sense.
Does "a man in shape" also mean that he's a man skilled in, say, his work?
A common expression used in America is "he thinks on his feet" which means he is on the ball. My translation should be accepted.
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He knows which side his bread is buttered on. He knows how many beans make five. He's the real monty. Idioms, gotta luv em.
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Apparently it could mean 'he is a smart man' or 'he is a good man'. Capable, good & smart all have different meanings as far as I am concerned, so would love a native-Italian speaker to throw light on this. Thanks
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So many of the sentences in the "medical" lesson are actually idioms. It would be better just to have an idioms lesson than to try to pass these idioms off as medical sentences.