Answers
Oct 19, 2012 - 01:13 PM
Dennis, are you referring to which is the proper response to the question posed by the exercise or which is the proper response in conversational Italian? They're different. In the exercises, you can always assume the answer being sought is singular, formal, masculine with a voiced pronoun and that anything in parens requires a different response. For example, "(They) are going" requires you to omit "loro". "You (p)" wants you to include "voi", and "large (p)(f)" is calling for you to use the plural feminine form in your response.
This sounds like a lot of work, but after awhile, it becomes somewhat automatic. (I still mess up, on occasion, but when I don't get it correctly, I usually know what to look for.)
As to when it's proper to drop the pronoun in conversation, I'll let others weigh in, but I've been told that using "Io" is a way to emphasize the speaker, as in the emphatic English phrase "I would never do that!" If you listen carefully, you'll hear that Americans drop pronouns frequently. On our local NPR station two nights ago, the host during a station break said, "Great to have the support of so many of you during our recent drive..." and seconds later, the host of Marketplace said, "Great to have you with us," then launched into his first story.
I hope this helps.
This sounds like a lot of work, but after awhile, it becomes somewhat automatic. (I still mess up, on occasion, but when I don't get it correctly, I usually know what to look for.)
As to when it's proper to drop the pronoun in conversation, I'll let others weigh in, but I've been told that using "Io" is a way to emphasize the speaker, as in the emphatic English phrase "I would never do that!" If you listen carefully, you'll hear that Americans drop pronouns frequently. On our local NPR station two nights ago, the host during a station break said, "Great to have the support of so many of you during our recent drive..." and seconds later, the host of Marketplace said, "Great to have you with us," then launched into his first story.
I hope this helps.
Nov 08, 2012 - 11:20 AM
Dennis, as commented on by Jim, the subject pronouns are usually not used by native speakers. They are used in cases when you want to emphasize who is involved, as for example: "pago io".
Nov 09, 2012 - 01:23 AM
I have also been having some confusion with this. While working through the flash cards, sometimes they consider it wrong to include the subject and others when I leave the subject out it is wrong and I have to add the subject to move on to the next phrase. Is there any pattern to this?
Nov 20, 2012 - 09:05 AM
I believe in the flash cards they are just providing us with an opportunity to include and not include the pronouns. I don't believe there are any rules that you should take regarding the use of the pronouns from the flash card exercises.
Nov 21, 2012 - 09:44 AM
I've learned from other lessons and an Italian friend the pronoun is usually omitted unless you are placing an emphasis on it. For example if I say, "I want to pay for it" and I am emphasizing "I" then I would say, "Io voglio pagarlo"; instead of "Voglio pagarlo". Make sense? The lessons don't explain this but I agree with Dennis when he stated that the flash cards are giving us an opportunity to practice both ways.
Nov 27, 2012 - 07:08 PM
I'm rather late to the party and you've probably mastered the flash cards already but from what I can tell when there is text in parenthesis then it should be omitted in the translation. For example...if "(I) want" is written then the translation would be "Voglio". You drop the pronoun. However if it is written "I want" without the parenthesis around the "I" then the translation would be "Io voglio". Or in the case of lesson 27 "(We) are going" is translated as "Andiamo" but "We are going" is translated as "Noi andiamo". Please note, however, when there is an "f" in parenthesis this indicates the female form of the text it follows. Hope this makes sense. In general, as fdegraw has already mentioned I've found that the pronoun is usually omitted unless you are emphasizing something.