"Why are you always laughing?"
Translation:Kial vi ĉiam ridas?
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I got this sentence right because I speak a language that doesn't really distinguish between laughing and smiling, so I put ridas. In Persian you can alternatively distinguish them by saying "labĥand" for "smile" (lit. lip-laugh), or utilize the Arabic term "tabassum" for smile.
In Esperanto are there different words for laughing and smiling?
Usually, ridi is "laugh" and rideti is "smile" -- so "little-laugh" or something like that.
(Theoretically, rideti could also refer to a small laugh - a chuckle, perhaps - but in practice, it's lexicalised to mean "smile". PIV defines it only as the soundless mouth movement.)
Why is it "are you always laughing" and not "do you always laugh" in the English translation? When you say this in English without a context it sounds to me a bit as a complaint. Is it only me? If not, I think a more neutral wording should be used (as in the Esperanto version it's neutral).
Why is "Kial ĉiam vi ridas?" not accepted? Does this have a significantly different meaning?
I would understand your sentence as "Why is it always you that's laughing?".
So, in Duo's sentence, the "ĉiam" modifies "ridas"; in yours, it modifies "vi".
