Lesson 8.8 - expressing time

Ciao a tutti

I'm confused by this translation:

Ho visto tuo fratello qualche minuto fa.

(I) saw your brother a few minutes ago.

Is there a reason it isn't “minuti” as it is plural?

Grazie

Chris

Ciao Chris, 

Grazie per la tua domanda :) 

The indefinite adjective “qualche” is always followed by a singular noun. If you wish to make it plural, we can use the adjective “alcuni.”

Here are a few examples: 

“Ho mangiato qualche pezzo di pizza.” = I ate a few pizza slices. → as you can see, “pezzo” is a singular noun, hence we use “qualche."

“Ho mangiato alcuni pezzi di pizza.” = I ate some/a few pizza slices → here, “pezzi” is a plural noun, hence we use “alcuni” (you could also use “dei”).

“Ho ascoltato qualche canzone dei Beatles.” = I listened to a few Beatles songs. -→ here, “canzone” is singular, hence we need to use “qualche”. 

“Ho ascoltato alcune canzoni dei Beatles.” = I listened to some/a few Beatles songs. → here, instead, “canzoni” is a plural noun and we need to use “alcune” (feminine, as it refers to “canzoni”) or possibly “delle”.

Hope this helps! :) 

Grazie Caterina

Ho capito.  It's so funny.  When I saw your reply, I thought I must have missed that in my earlier revisions, so I just looked at lesson 1, and found a new lesson 1.8, covering “some” which includes qualche!  :)

It's obvious I need to be even more careful in checking for new content than ever!

A dopo

Chris

HI  Caterina and ChrisM108

Ha ha. I had the same moment with that one. Also went back to do a revision. One forgets so easily and that is why I keep on having to go back. 

Thank you Caterina. You always explain it so well and then it all makes sense

Ciao

Sebongela