68 Comments
I thought you were tricking me into thinking they where difrent, but then I saw the difrence!
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
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'
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?
347
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.
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.
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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"
- 347
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.
Is lo in this sentence an article or a pronoun?
- 347
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.
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.
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Correct if you transliterlate I eat sugar. With 'the' you should add 'lo' to be DL safe indeed...
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.
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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.
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)
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It would be 'io mangiai' or 'io ho mangiato' lo zucchero, which is not an option in this case
- 347
No. For general meaning no need to add an article (same as in English) or you can use the partitive del+ article (dello zucchero).
Mangio 1-st person singular = Io in Italian or I in English, mangia is used with the 3-rd person = she or he
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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).
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?
