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
ChrisM108
February 28, 2022
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
caterina-rocket-italian-tutor
February 28, 2022
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! :)
ChrisM108
February 28, 2022
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
Maxie
March 1, 2022
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