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Learning Italian: I need help!

Forums: Languages, Italian
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fbaezer
 
  1  
Reply Tue 13 Jul, 2004 06:41 pm
kickycan wrote:
La Sua Testa e una scatola vuota.

Lei ha una testa vuota.

Are those grammatically correct?
Quote:


Yes, they are grammatically correct (an accent is missing in the verb è).
They're also funny, since you are using the formal second person (sure, you respect the position of the boss, not the boss himself!)
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ossobuco
 
  1  
Reply Tue 13 Jul, 2004 08:46 pm
Listening. I spent lotsa time leaning perhaps off the beaten track.

Sht, kicky I went to the bookstore and bought some cds yesterday, all because of YOU, as I could use the knowledge..
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kickycan
 
  1  
Reply Tue 13 Jul, 2004 09:31 pm
fbaezer, grazie! Formal second person means the use of "Lei", right?

One more question:

the "u" in vuota. Is that supposed to be subtly pronounced in there, or is it completely silent, as in voto?

Tell me when I become a nuisance. Smile

Osso, glad I could help. He he. Smile

Learning Italian is fun, but not easy. I think I have to go practice speaking it now. I feel like I'm falling behind in the class already. Shocked
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kickycan
 
  1  
Reply Tue 13 Jul, 2004 09:33 pm
CDs? Idea
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fbaezer
 
  1  
Reply Tue 13 Jul, 2004 09:47 pm
"U" is always pronounced in Italian.
If you don't, you'll say vote when you mean empty.
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kickycan
 
  1  
Reply Tue 13 Jul, 2004 10:15 pm
Okay, cool. Thanks again.
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drom et reve
 
  1  
Reply Tue 13 Jul, 2004 11:45 pm
Fbaezer; out of interest, how does one pronounce the umlauted vowels in the dialects? Does the vowel quality change?
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fbaezer
 
  1  
Reply Wed 14 Jul, 2004 01:20 am
All I know, really, is that the meaning of imlauts varies from dialect to dialect.

I can tell you only about Modenese dialect, my friends tried to make me pronounce the ë, it was supposed to be cut in the middle of the pronounciation. Too hard. I never could manage to do it (even if I do speak Italian with a Modenese accent).
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kickycan
 
  1  
Reply Tue 20 Jul, 2004 11:08 am
Okay, for today, I have only one question. What does the name John or Jonathan translate to in Italian?
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joefromchicago
 
  1  
Reply Tue 20 Jul, 2004 11:52 am
kickycan wrote:
Okay, for today, I have only one question. What does the name John or Jonathan translate to in Italian?

Giovanni.
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fbaezer
 
  1  
Reply Tue 20 Jul, 2004 01:05 pm
... and also Gianni.
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kickycan
 
  1  
Reply Tue 20 Jul, 2004 01:09 pm
Thanks. My mother and I have been wondering what my brother's name is in Italian for a couple weeks. Smile
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kickycan
 
  1  
Reply Fri 23 Jul, 2004 06:50 pm
Okay, I have another quick question. We are learning plural forms of words now, and my question is about the word "la gente" (the people).

If you wanted to say "The people have...", would it be "La gente hanno..." or would it be "La gente ha..."?

I'm guessing that it would be "La gente ha...". Am I right?
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kickycan
 
  1  
Reply Fri 23 Jul, 2004 06:54 pm
Make that two quick questions.

I'm trying to practice plural possessives too. I'm trying to say "My dogs have their favorite trees."

I miei cani hanno i suoi alberi favoriti.

My question is, do you need that second article "i" before suoi alberi?
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drom et reve
 
  1  
Reply Fri 23 Jul, 2004 06:57 pm
'La gente ha' is the right form. 'La gente' in Italian is like 'the public' or 'the population' in English, (as well as meaning 'people.') In English, it would be 'the public has decided,' or 'the population has grown.' La gente is the same as this.
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drom et reve
 
  1  
Reply Fri 23 Jul, 2004 07:00 pm
'I miei cani hanno loro alberi favoriti' is how I would phrase it, too; I think that this one is a matter of personal preference.

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drom et reve
 
  1  
Reply Fri 23 Jul, 2004 07:03 pm
Here's a rule that might make things like the first question a little easier.

In nearly every case, if a noun does not have in front of it the article gli, i, or le, it almost definitely will take 'ha' (unless there is a subjunctive clause before it, like 'I wish that the cat were here, which you'll learn later on in the course.)
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kickycan
 
  1  
Reply Fri 23 Jul, 2004 07:16 pm
Grazie, amica. Smile
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drom et reve
 
  1  
Reply Fri 23 Jul, 2004 07:21 pm
Prego, amico Very Happy.
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kickycan
 
  1  
Reply Sun 25 Jul, 2004 09:52 pm
Okay, I'm really confused and frustrated tonight. Can someone please explain to me what the hell the following phrases mean?

i tuoi cani

i suoi cani

I know they mean "your dogs" and "their dogs", but how do you know if the "your" and the "their" is singular or plural? Can these phrases be used for either the plural or the singular?

Thanks in advance.
0 Replies
 
 

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