"Cavalli, mucche, uccelli"

Translation: Horses, cows, birds

[jesslc]

All I can think of when I see this is:

Cavalli, mucche, uccelli, lend me your ears... :-)

I wonder how you say that in Italian? (mi date i vostri orecchi...?)

[dnovinc]

"Mi date i vostri orecchi" would be a little bit harsh since after that I think they wouldn't be able to hear anything :p

I would use instead prestare = to lend (Mi prestate i vostri orecchi)

[Muttley_]

I'd actually say "prestatemi orecchio" :-)

[jesslc]

When I looked up my (mini) Italian dictionary under the entry for "lend" it had a sub-entry: "lend a hand" (fig) dare un mano

Given that "lend me your ears" is also a figurative phrase I thought to follow the example of "lend a hand" rather than using the main verb given for lend (prestare). But of course the beauty of idioms is that they don't necessarily follow from logical reasoning so chances are it's something else entirely...

[codevisio]

Are you sure about Orecchi ?!?!? :)

I think it sounds more grammatical correct:

Mi prestate le vostre orecchie

EDIT: checked it, you can say both way

[dnovinc]

I remembered a phrase "lend an ear = prestare ascolto", but I am not sure if it's right in this context. So "lend me your ears" could be: "Mi prestate ascolto"

[jesslc]

From my mini dictionary

ascolto (nm) listening;
dare ascolto a : listen to

Sounds promising. :-)

[j.duo498154]

What is the difference between orecchi and orecchie ? Are they both plural for orecchio ? And is the grammatical rule of plural here ?

[hannita5]

Ascolto is i listen

[cifari]

Why is cows mucche not mucchi like cavalli or ucceli

[culbea]

Look at dnovinc's post below.

[hannita5]

Prural ending in e is fem. And ending in i is feminan

[hannita5]

Ending in i masc. Sorry

[gpiraja]

How can I know that "uccelli" is plural?

[ziggKogg]

The "i" at the end indicates plural

[jesedmoga]

Singular for mucche?

[dnovinc]

la mucca = the cow

Female singular nouns ending in -ca (mucca=cow) form plural by changing the ending in -che (mucche= cows)

check this: http://www.arnix.it/free-italian/italian-grammar/plural-of-italian-nouns-by-changing-the-ending.php

btw I also suggest these two dictionaries:

• http://www.wordreference.com/enit/cow
• http://en.pons.eu/

[CarterLegr1]

leoni, tigri, orsi, OH MY

[silkwarrior]

Is there any difference in meaning/usage between "vacca" and "mucca"

[m.tastic]

http://italian.stackexchange.com/questions/1711/what-is-the-difference-between-mucca-and-vacca

"A vacca is, in general, any adult female bovine, while a mucca is a vacca which is giving milk. Mucca was originally a local, Tuscan term.
However, vacca is also used as a derogatory term for a female human, so it's sometimes avoided, even though it is more correct when not talking about milk production."

[silkwarrior]

Thanks for your reply.

Vacca is quite a common surname in sardinia :)

http://www.paginebianche.it/cognome/vacca.htm

[jblaud]

Seriously, going bacj to mucche being cows... I only know of vacca and vacche

[Muttley_]

mucca/mucche is a cute way to refer to cows.

[t3212]

Like when kids call them 'moo-cows' maybe? Which is going to help me remember this word :)

[Alex242535]

No matter how many times I listened he DOES NOT say cavalli. He says cavati.

[Muttley_]

What system are you using? Male or female voice? As far as I am concerned, the pronunciation is spotless: it's a double 'l', as expected.

[TommyPez1]

Also where we got the word "vaccine" interestingly