"Itheann sé torthaí go coitianta."

Translation: He eats fruit in general.

[GeoffMcHarg]

I put "He in general eats fruits." Does the word order in the translation really matter, or is this just an example of how sophisticated the program that runs Duo is (or is not)?

[KaMReid]

As a native US speaker, "He in general eats fruit" sounds kind of weird to me. Saying "He eats fruit in general" sounds better to me, but it is still a weird sentence.

[Shivaadh]

I'm also unsure about Irish word order. For English, I learnt that a lawyer should stick the adverb as close to the verb as possible (same goes for adjective to noun), in order to maximize unambiguity - but that's a stylistic rule (not a grammatical one), where the goal is clarity rather than poetry, where the melody/ rhythm may be more important than clarity.
I'm guessing that Duolingo wants our answer to stick as closely to their original as possible, because their goal is to automatically check answers for comprehension. But I don't know why their question here puts the adverb far from the verb in the first place... Is it oversight, or is Irish style different? Maybe putting go coitianta in another place from the usual one emphasizes it, causing a subtle shift in meaning:
"He's an unhealthy person who never eats fruit".
"He eats fruit usually"
In Russian, putting a word at the end of the sentence emphasizes it. How do you emphasize a word in Irish, using word order?

[Molly840614]

I thought cointanta meant regurally?

[teeling2]

why would "he usually eats fruit" not be accepted - - it is the concept that I am getting at and not a literal translation.

[Codester3]

I’m not going to testify to this, but it seems like the “in general” term modifies “fruit”. That would mean that he eats basically all kinds of fruit.

In your example, “usually” modifies the verb “eats”. That means that he habitually or constantly eats fruit.

The other “hint” to me is that this is a section on adjectives (so “in general” works), and not on adverbs (“usually” would work for that).

[michelleplus8]

Is this substantively different from, "He eats fruits generally?"

[galaxyrocker]

This one would perhaps be more literally translated as "He (habitually) eats fruit commonly", with go coitianta being the adjective form of coitianta, 'common'. But I do say it's roughly the same meaning.

[Shivaadh]

go coitianta being the adverbial form, not the adjective! https://www.teanglann.ie/ga/fgb/coitianta

Adjective: modifies noun ("fruit" isn't modified here);
Adverb: modifies verb (sorta how is eating happening: generally/ commonly/ ordinarily)

[Shivaadh]

It's not general fruit that's getting eaten.

[PippaDubh]

I actually put "he eats fruit commonly" and it was marked wrong. The explanation above that it's the fruit being modified so all kinds of fruit rather than the eats (by frequency) might explain this...

[Rostellan]

I tried 'He eats fruit usually', but it wasn't accepted.

[Clumsypoot]

Why is "It eats fruit generally." not accepted?"

[EoinOSulli9]

I remember "go hiondúil" for "in general" this just a dialect thing or is there a subtlety I'm missing?

[DavyCrocke13]

I would say that this more accurately translates to 'He usually eats fruit'

[Philip450809]

I also tried he eats fruit regularly, wondering if it would be accepted as I knew the correct answer was "in general".