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I bambini fanno merenda alle quattro.

I bambini fanno merenda alle quattro.
The children have their afternoon snack at four.
From Lesson 66:Meals and eating (fare colazione, pranzare)·Italian

Breakdown of I bambini fanno merenda alle quattro.

il bambino
the child
quattro
four
fare merenda
to have an afternoon snack

Questions & Answers about I bambini fanno merenda alle quattro.

Why does the sentence use fanno instead of a word for 'have'?
In Italian, you 'make' or 'do' a snack rather than 'have' one. The verb fare (to do/make) is used in many common expressions where English uses other verbs, like having breakfast (fare colazione). Here, fanno is the 'they' form, so fanno merenda translates to 'they have a snack'.
Why is there no word for 'their' or 'a' before merenda?
The standard phrase is just fare merenda. In Italian, you do not need an article like una (a) or a possessive word for 'their' here. It functions as one set activity, similar to how we say 'they have breakfast' rather than 'they have their breakfast' in English.
What exactly is a merenda?
A merenda is specifically a mid-afternoon snack. It is a cultural staple in Italy, especially for children returning home after school. A more generic small snack eaten at any time of day would usually be called a spuntino.
Why does 'at four' translate to alle quattro instead of just a quattro?
When talking about hours on the clock, Italian uses the plural feminine article le because the hidden word is ore (hours). The preposition a (at) combines with le (the) to create the single combined word alle.

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