Learn Italian: Voi mangiate tutto, eccetto i latticini, per l'allergia. - You eat everything, except dairy, because of the allergy.

Voi mangiate tutto, eccetto i latticini, per l'allergia.

You eat everything, except dairy, because of the allergy.

Breakdown of Voi mangiate tutto, eccetto i latticini, per l'allergia.

for / in order to / because of

Questions & Answers about Voi mangiate tutto, eccetto i latticini, per l'allergia.

Can I use tranne instead of eccetto in this sentence?

Yes, absolutely! eccetto and tranne mean the exact same thing and are completely interchangeable here. You could say tranne i latticini with no change in meaning. eccetto sounds just slightly more formal, but both are very common.

Why is the article i used in eccetto i latticini? English just says except dairy.

In Italian, you almost always need the definite article for broad categories or general nouns. Since latticini refers to the whole category of dairy products, it needs the plural article i. Prepositions like eccetto or tranne do not cancel out this rule.

Why does per mean because of here instead of for?

While per usually translates to for, it is frequently used to express a cause or reason, meaning because of or due to. Saying per l'allergia is a very natural and common way to express the cause, acting as a shorter everyday alternative to a causa dell'allergia.

Does the word latticini always have to be plural?

Yes, when referring to the food group dairy, it is always plural. The word literally means dairy products and comes from latte (milk). You will almost always see it used with its plural article as i latticini.