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- "Fate un buon caffè!"
62 Comments
This seems more like an enthusiastic compliment, rather than an imperative order.
Perhaps a café owner telling a staff member to make a good coffee for their regular customer?
Correct. "Fate" here is the 2nd person plural of the imperative mood, therefore the speaker is talking to more than one person.
I was also wondering that... could it be used in a 'enjoy your meal' mood? Catalan, which shares some similarities with Italian, does use 'fer un café' for 'have a cup of coffee'.
830
So a couple of sentences ago I wrote "make" a light breakfast and was told it should be "have" a light breakfast. Now I write "have" a good coffee and get told it's "make" a good coffee. Frustrating!
but why is fate = "make" here with the coffee but with colazione it is "have"?
Yeah, it said I needed "a" in "a good coffee" but I disagree. I get that it's needed in Italian but in English it just sounds weird... (still, it did accept my answer and only warned me about the "a").
I, too, tried "Make good coffee" and it actually cost me a heart rather than just warning... I reported it
Without the article it is "coffee" in general, with it it is a single specific cup
- 457
Actually, this would mean "Make a good espresso," but DL probably wouldn't accept that. ; )
Not again! I don't see any reason why "you make good coffee" should not be accepted
- 804
that has nothing to do with the imperative mood and everything to do with how unnatural the article is in english.
What do you mean by "that?" I read @AyyashElmota's comment and took it to mean that (s)he was asking why it cannot be in the present indicative construction, as opposed to the imperative.
Also, it may be unnatural in English, but it is not so in Italian (and in Portuguese). Think of it as "You make a good [cup of] coffee," except in Italian you can omit «tazza» and just refer to only the coffee.
- 804
i see now. sorry about that. i assumed she was talking about the article, which i still feel should be omitted in the english translation, regardless of how natural it is in the original. however, i suppose that's neither here nor there since it wasn't about the article.
In realtà qui il punto d'esclamazione fa supporre un imperativo, ma capisco la frustrazione. Comunque segnalalo e vedrai che prima o poi lo accetteranno.
- 1922
This lesson is about imperatives in Italian, not about articles in English. Here is the translation for down-voters:
Actually here the exclamation mark does suggest an imperative, but I understand the frustration. Anyway report it and you will see that sooner or later they will accept it.
I also have the same opinion about the article in English which must be omitted!
«buono» becomes «buon» when it comes before the noun: «Mi piace il buon caffè ma non il cattivo.» versus «Il caffè è buono.».
Normally we are taught [in Duolingo] to put an adjective after the noun, so why do we put the adjective first in this sentence? Is it caused by the imperative mood?
«buono» is one of those exceptions that can be placed before the noun, just like all numbers, possessive adjectives/pronouns like «tuo», and some other adjectives describing age and quality.
- 61
I wrote "you all" make a good coffee. Even though this isn't common English usage, it's still correct, and more descriptive for the "voi" case. Why isn't it accepted?
I thought I read in another answer that "Fa'un buon caffe." was correct. Did I read that wrong?
«fai»/«fa'»/«fa» is the imperative for the second-person singular, but «fate» is the imperative for the second-person plural: http://www.italian-verbs.com/italian-verbs/conjugation.php?verbo=fare
«fate» is the imperative of «voi» (the plural "you"). Please feel free to take a look at the link I provided to heidi4793 above. ↑
They are used respectively with "Lei" and "Loro", the polite forms of "tu" and "noi".
In Romance languages, "to do" and "to make" are one verb. In English, they are two, and they are not interchangeable. Therefore, you "make" coffee, and you do not "do" coffee. Anything that involves some kind of creation/process, especially cooking/baking, takes the verb "make." Anything that involves some kind of completion/process takes the verb "do," like homework or any kind of task. Perhaps an exception would be to "make the bed."
Di nulla e grazie! I hope I was able to help. It is actually difficult to explain.
i don't like your methods, bartender, but you sure as hell gets results!
They want to make it obvious that this is the imperative lesson. Because some of the conjugations in the imperative mood do not change from the present indicative in Italian (e.g. «scriviamo» is both "we write" in present and "let's write" in imperative), the exclamation point tells you that Duolingo expects you to write the answer in the imperative mood.
Use «buon» when the following noun takes «il» as its article. Use «buono» when the following noun takes «lo» as its article. For example, «buon cameriere» but «buono zio».
er ... How is this an imperative? OK it's got an exclamation mark, but to me it sounds more like 'You make a good coffee'.
- 1204
fate una collazione = have a breakfast, and fate un buon coffee = make a good coffee. Is there any logic in this?
The imperative (l'imperativo) is used to give orders, advice, and exhortations.
Examples: Spiegaci!, = Explain to us!, Girati! = Turn around!, Non tormentarmi = Don't torment me!, Sbrigati = Hurry up!, Chiamami! = Call me!, Scrivimi! = Write me!, Sta' zitto! = Shut up!, Lasciami in pace. = Leave me alone., Mettila dietro. (una bici) = Put it in the back. (a bike), Non dirmelo! = Don't tell me!, Non fare l'innocente. = Don't play innocent., Divertiti! = Enjoy yourself!, Dille di riprendersi. = Tell her to get better., Non preoccuparti. = Don't worry yourself., Calmati! = Calm down!
imperativo presente [fare] = present imperative [to do, to make]
fài, fa' [non fàre] (tu) .......... make [don't make] (informal, singular)
fàccia (egli) .......... make (formal, singular)
facciàmo (noi) .......... let's make
fàte (voi) .......... make (informal, plural)
fàcciano (essi) .......... make (formal, plural)
- 283
"Make a good coffee" would not be used in English to refer to making a good cup or pot of coffee. That would be "Make good coffee." The only context in which DL's answer would be used would be directed towards a manufacturer regarding a product line of coffee.
- 1901
Duo, I've just wrote the word "fate" with double t as "fatte" and you marked it wrong. You are so mean, Duo.
