Answers
Feb 19, 2015 - 04:38 PM
anch'io ho visto quel errore
Feb 20, 2015 - 09:01 AM
Ciao Robert
Of course, you are absolutely right that in English we would say:
I bought a tie FOR my father-in-law
Rather than being a mistake on our part it this awkward English that you've come across a few times is actually designed to help you. What we are trying to do here is show you how Italian works.
While you can also use the preposition "Per" in Italian, "A" is much more common in this structure. So literally we are saying:
I bought a tie TO my father-in-law
And that's exactly what we want you to translate in this sentence.
If we'd said:
(She) bought a tie for me
It would be:
Ha comprato una cravatta per me
So bear in mind that in Italian it's much more common to say "to buy something TO someone". We'll keep this strange translation to let you know how to translate the sentence and to get your ear tuned into how it would be in Italian.
Of course, you are absolutely right that in English we would say:
I bought a tie FOR my father-in-law
Rather than being a mistake on our part it this awkward English that you've come across a few times is actually designed to help you. What we are trying to do here is show you how Italian works.
While you can also use the preposition "Per" in Italian, "A" is much more common in this structure. So literally we are saying:
I bought a tie TO my father-in-law
And that's exactly what we want you to translate in this sentence.
If we'd said:
(She) bought a tie for me
It would be:
Ha comprato una cravatta per me
So bear in mind that in Italian it's much more common to say "to buy something TO someone". We'll keep this strange translation to let you know how to translate the sentence and to get your ear tuned into how it would be in Italian.