"Io mangio lo zucchero."
Translation:I eat the sugar.
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I thought you were tricking me into thinking they where difrent, but then I saw the difrence!
I had written io zucchero then came to find out it was supposed to be lo zucchero
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From what I've learned during the Spanish module on Duo, Spanish likes to use the article when speaking generally or about something as a whole...i.e. me gusta comer el pescado (I like to eat fish)... I'm guessing Italian is similar
actually we spanish people don't usually say the article when speaking, but duolingo seems to think we do
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What do you mean by "the article" and please respond in elementary lol because i dont know anything about Spanish or any language derived from the latin origin. Just found out that Italian was based off of it also
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Articles are a feature of some, but not all languages. In simplest terms they are a and an and the. They serve to specify or highlight a noun. They come in two flavors: Definte articles and indefinite articles. The indefinite ones point out an object but not any particular object such as a car, or an orange. The Definite article is more specific: The car, or The orange. In Italian the indefinite articles are: Un, Uno, Una and Un’. The Definite articles are: il, lo, l’ la, le, i and gli. The selection depends on the gender (masculine, feminine, and neuter in some languages(not Italian)). The selection is also based on the letter or first sound of the noun. It is not as complicated as it seems..and eventually becomes second nature. You can google for more info. Italian and English use the indefinite ones pretty much identically.. there are some exceptions for professions and other characteristics. The definite ones are nuanced, as Italian, like Spanish throws (the) in, where we wouldn’t in English sometimes.
Off topic..languages derived from Latin are called Romance languages…there are quite a few of them, but the major ones are Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French and Romanian.
The "article" is just "the" or "a" or "an." When is it used and when is it "understood?" I know that in English and French and Spanish but not in Italian.
Actually we don't use the article in that sentence. It's a bit more trickier. I would say "me gusta comer pescado", but "me gusta el pescado". It's the second sentence you are refering too
There's not really a difference between those in Italian. You mostly say you are "eating the ...".
You don't have a choice here. It has to be 'lo'. The rule is: Before 'z' and 's+consonant' the 'il' becomes a 'lo'
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Thank you Wataya, but I don't understand well the use of the "Lo" here, I mean, I have noticed Italian uses it when in general meaning, something like the French partitive, but until I know, Italian has a partitive as well, so, for instance if I want to say: " I eat sugar = Je mange du sucré = Io mangio lo zucchero" or "Io mangio dello zucchero"? If so, when to use each one? it's exactly the same?
Almost the same use as in English: lo zucchero is specific (the sugar) and dello zucchero (partitive) or just zucchero without article is sugar in general.
Thank you. It would be very helpful if the app also explained rules of this Kind.
In English there is a difference between "I eat sugar" and "I am eating the sugar". One is 'in general I eat sugar' and the other is 'I am eating the sugar right at this moment'. How is this difference stated in Italian, so it is clear what the speaker is saying? Thanks.
Almost the same use as in English: lo zucchero is specific (the) and dello zucchero or just zucchero is in general.
why is the "lo" there?? doesnt this mean just I eat sugar and not I eat the sugar?
Why does it say "Lo" (the) when the translation does not include "the"
I had the sentence in italian first, saying 'io mangio lo zucchero' and knowing DL transliteration preferences I translated it correctly in 'I eat the sugar' (...you gave me?).
I understand from from studies complete 40 years ago that one does not need to use the personal pronouns since the verb ending indicates the pronoun.
If the article preceeding the noun is il or lo (i or gli for plural), than is the noun masculine and if it is la (le for plural), the noun is feminine.
I eat sugar, but then what would be the past tense? I wrote "I ate the sugar" which seems like it would be the proper translation from Italian to english
I think it just depends on the context. For example, if someone said, "where did all the sugar go?" you would say, "I ate the sugar." On the other hand, if someone asks you, "Do you like sugar?" a past-tense response wouldn't make any sense. (sorry about the bad examples)
It would be 'io mangiai' or 'io ho mangiato' lo zucchero, which is not an option in this case
Does anyone have any mnemonic devices? I always get lo, il, nello, etc. mixed up
Lo is used before the nouns that starts with S+consonant, with Z..(what comes after Z doesn't matter) and nouns with GN.. etc.. When it's Lo the plural form is always Gli. Hope this helps. Il is used before all masuculine nouns except those who starts with S+consonant , Z... GN il is not useds before the nouns that starts with vowel like. Uomo. In this case we have to say l'uomo and he plural is gli uomini.
Correct if you transliterlate I eat sugar. With 'the' you should add 'lo' to be DL safe indeed...
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Hi ughlizXD, The conjugation of verb Mangiare is as follows: io mangio; tu mangi; lui, lei, mangia; noi mangiamo; voi mangiate; loro mangiano.
Mangio 1-st person singular = Io in Italian or I in English, mangia is used with the 3-rd person = she or he
They are both completely different! One is io with a big i and means I=me, and the other is lo with a small l and means the (for masculine nouns beginning with s or z).
Can someone tell me why it is lui/lei mangia when it is lui/lei beve,legge,crive etc.
There are 3 groups of verbs in Italian.1) the infinitive is like ×××are eg. mangiare . For lei/lui we say ×××a like mangia. 2)the infinitive is like ×××ere eg. Leggere then for lui/lei we say ×××e like legge.3)infinitive is ×××ire again lui/lei is ×××e.
I tried asking my cousin who is taking an Italian course this, so i wanted to confirm his explanation. Ragazzo and zucchero are both masculine right? Why is it that the article for ragazzo is "il" and for zucchero "lo"? Why aren't they both "il"? Whats the difference and what determines which word gets which article?
I get this wrong every time it comes up and have to leave the lessom to get around it. I dont get why "i eat sugar" even requires the "Lo" but i put it in every single time. How do I get by this ...
Please read the previous comments. This is answered right at the top of the page.
I did not understand it. Here "lo" means "the".Why would "lo" mean "the" without using it? Don't you think the sentence is wrong? Does anyone knows? Please answer,thank you.
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Russian doesn't have definite or indefinite articles, but they need to use (ours) when translating to English or, "There was a big explosion and the building burned" would come out, "There was big explosion and building burned". Do you want your Italian to sound as ungrammatical as that?
I (capitalized i) and o together = io = me, I (1. pers. sing., personal pronouns)
It says if you click it (lo) means the but the sentence was i eat sugar ????
Just a moment ago I was marked wrong for putting the lo in front of zucchero. This program lacks consistency.
There are probably some grammatic rules behind "Lo zucchero" like definite or indefinite articles, depending on the car ntext of the conversation. For Romance languages native speakers it's second nd nature to use them or not. I'd say "Yo como azúcar" because "Yo como el azúcar" sounds odd. On the other hand I'd say "Me gusta el azúcar" because "Me gusta azúcar" would be incorrect. Language rules and nuances, go figure
Oh no. More sugar?
And is anything worse than the counter at the top? It jumps fowars 1/4 of the way to start, so you think you're halfway done, then it nickel and dimes you with progress until you're done.