How do say "Check (Cheque)" in Italian? As in a personal bank check.


Is it "assegeno"? How is it pronounced?

assegno

gn as Spanish ñ, señor

ah ss eh ñ oh
(as in http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/language/alphabet.htm)

Yes, it is assegno.... and it's pronounced.... mmmmh assegno I'm very sorry but I'm very bad at this!
a (like A in fAther)
ss (strong S like in Sun)
e (like E in pEn)
gn (similar to NY in caNYon)
o (similar to O in cOzy)
mmmmh AS SENYO
does this make sense to you?

UPS! Paolo was faster and I'm sure that his way to explain it is much better..... I tried...

Thanks everyone!

So is the check.

l'assegno?

or il assegno?

It just seems like a feminine word to me so I would guess l'.

It is a masculine noun. l'assegno / gli assegni

quote:

Originally posted by spinnaker:
So is the check.

l'assegno?

or il assegno?

It just seems like a feminine word to me so I would guess l'.

Masculine or feminine it is l'assegno.

What's really exasperating is when the word ends in "e." Is it mas. or fem.? One has to memorise the gender...ie, l'esame (the exam) is mas/sing. Whoever decided that sexing up words is a good thing should be hung by the thumbs....male or female. pat

quote:

Originally posted by Patricia in Jax:
Masculine or feminine it is l'assegno.

What's really exasperating is when the word ends in "e." Is it mas. or fem.? One has to memorise the gender...ie, l'esame (the exam) is mas/sing. Whoever decided that sexing up words is a good thing should be hung by the thumbs....male or female. pat

I've got to agree, I wonder who thought of this one too.

But il is masculine and la is feminine right?

So do you always contract to l' when the noun starts with a vowel?

[/QUOTE]

I've got to agree, I wonder who thought of this one too.

But il is masculine and la is feminine right?

So do you always contract to l' when the noun starts with a vowel?[/QUOTE]

Yes, il = mas; la = fem....but, not always, there are variations depending..........I have some deep seated feelings for the person who complicated Italian grammar!

And, yes, you contract the il or la before a mas/fem, singular word beginning with a vowel: l'

I find, & my classmates do too, that the more we learn Italian, the more we find that befuddles us...so many irregularities. However, I've not had difficulties being understood in Italy; the Italians are so accommodating & gracious.

I still remember a small mistake I made 5 years ago. I wanted 2 apples in a frutivendolo. I asked for "due mela;" what this means is "2 apple." I was politely sold 2 apple for the same price as 2 apples (due mele).

pat

All romantic languages have the same problems with masculine and feminine nouns.

But that does not mean that English does not have similar problems. There is a funny discussion on this in this forum.


Sorry I don't get the 2 apple story.

spinnaker, il is masculine and la is feminine.

But if the masculine noun begins with a vowel, a z like zucchero, or a double consonant, like studente, then il becomes Lo and the plural i becomes gli. Lo zucchero, gli americani.

And if the masculine singular noun begins with a vowel, lo gets reduced to l'. As in l'assegno.

While we're at it, don't forget l'uovo le uova

o il dito, le dita

finger fingers

il dito, i diti
toe, toes

l'orecchio, le orecchie or l'orecchio, gli orecchi?
ear, ears
il ginocchio, le ginocchia or il ginocchio, i ginocchi?
knee, knees
I'm sooo bad!

orecchie, ginocchia, dita

Alessandra, personally I agree with orecchie and ginocchia but they are all correct....
And I promise toes is officially diti even if I don't know anybody actually saying that!

niente e' facile in verita'...

dito s. m. [pl. f. le dita; pop. i diti, che si usa però obbligatoriamente quando è seguito dal nome: i diti mignoli]

Mi favorite "braccio" means both arm and wing of a building (which is also "ala" and "raggio", though). The two arms are "braccia", the two wings of a building are "bracci".

I think that we scared our non Italian friends to death
Cheer up, it's not that bad! It's just some examples of how funny the Italian language can be... but I promise that it's not that important unless you wish to be a professional user of the Italian language!
Italians will understand you anyway (even if you mess up braccia and bracci ) and absolutely love if you try speaking their language!

Il muro and le mura are good ones too IIRC il muro is a city wall and le mura are walls inside a room?

Almost correct....
il muro (pl. i muri) is the wall inside a room or plainly house walls.
le mura is the city walls (also used as wall of a house in old italian and expressions).

Gah, dyslexia strikes again!