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Because (unfortunately) duolingo is not perfect, and does not accept all correct answers to all questions. Oh, and maybe this isn't considered proper English. I'm not really sure. I know I say it, but that doesn't really mean much because I practically speak my own dialect with my own accent.
Yes, I didn't appreciate that. I prefer to avoid saying "a lot" since it implies a vacant lot full of rain or some other predetermined size or amount.
Apparently Duolingo tend to think that the use of "much" in simple, affirmative sentences is wrong. It isn't. Even if speakers tend to prefer "a lot" to "much". On the other hand there is a debate going on whether it is acceptable to say "it rained today" VS "it has rained today".
It's actually wrong. You can ask 'does it rain much here?' but never state that 'it rains much'.
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In English, much is generally not used with sentences that are positive statements about uncountable nouns. There's a chart on this page that breaks it down better than I can explain it: http://www.grammar.cl/Notes/Much_Many_Lot_Few.htm
FULL DISCLOSURE: Native English speaker - US, Southern Appalachian dialect. Other uses of English may vary. Advice about Spanish should be taken with a grain of salt.
I could be wrong, but I think 'ha llovido' is much more appropriate than 'llovió' here.
Tienes toda la razón, para hablar del día en el que te encuentras se utiliza 'ha llovido' , llovió el mes pasado, ayer o hace un siglo.
Not necessarily. If it rained earlier that day and the rain is over, you'd say "Hoy llovió." It's like the difference, in English, between "Today, it has rained a lot" (llovido) and "Today, it rained a lot" (llovió.)
I don't know about Spanish but with "today" one should use the present perfect, not the simple past: Today it has rained a lot and NOT *Today it rained a lot as the day is not yet finished.
You can use simple past as in "It rained a lot today." For instance, you can say "I didn't go to the store because it rained a lot today." It means as in earlier today.
The sound I hear when, "llovió" is spoken on the web app, sound much like gu-vio or ch-vio or somewhere in between the two. I understand that ll is spoken differently in various regions. I was expecting something like yo-vio. Does the ll sound change according to the following vowel letters?
LL is pronounced more or less like English Y (in "yard") in Standard Spanish and more like English J in Latin American Spanish. This Latin American J-sound isn't very consistent, sometimes it sounds like the middle consonant of English "measure". The Duolingo speaker tend to use a Latin American pronounciation.
I once learned that ll is pronounced like the English letter Y, but here on Duolingo it is pronounced like the English J (or perhaps soft g). Is there a difference between the way ll sounds in Spain and in Latin America?
My daughter, who is studying Spanish at the University of Illinois, says she was taught that Y is for beginners and that on music ll is pronounced J with a sh sound. Live and learn.
Thanks, MystryNile, but I am just an ignorant science-guy. I looked at the site you suggested, but it is way over my head. Sorry.
Well, in most parts of Spain, the Y and Ll sound different from eachother.
The Y is like English Y, but with the tongue closer to the roof of the mouth(making it sound similar to zh), and can be pronounced as an affricate(sounds similar to jay) at the beginnin of a syllable.
The Ll is like English Y and L combined; like an English Y sound but with your tongue in the shape you use to make an l sound.
In Latin America, the Ll is pronounced the same as the Y.
If you pronounce it all the same as the English Y, you should still be understood.
http://grammar.about.com/od/pq/g/preteriterm.htm http://grammar.about.com/od/pq/g/prespertense.htm I see where you are coming from, but it is all in the view point of the speaker. If the speaker uses the preterit, then that gives information about the view point of the speaker and should be translated to the simple past. For example: "It rained a lot. Now, it is no longer raining. Since my daughter practices soccer on artificial turf, she will still have her practice." but "It has rained a lot." My son's soccer practice has been cancelled, because the grass field is too wet and muddy and would get damaged in this condition." The present perfect is used for the recent past and can be used for a past that continues until now or affects the present. The simple past can be used for any past that is done, but it does not give further information about when it was done, just that it is no longer happening. You have the word "today" to let you know it happened earlier in the same day, otherwise you wouldn't know when it happened with the preterit. "It has rained a lot." would imply that this happened recently maybe even today.
Would you ever need to use the other conjugations of llover? I can't think of a situation when something other than "it" would be raining.
In English, there is an expression "to rain down..." as in "She rains down candy on the little ones." It only works with an object that can be scattered. "They rained rice down on the newlyweds." although you can also use the verb "shower".
I heard "yo vio". I should have played it slow i guess. I thought that was I saw.
Could someone explain why: " It was raining a lot today" not acceptable for: "Hoy llovio (with accent on last o) mucho"? Thanks.
I think "was raining" would be a different tense in Spanish - the imperfect. This page might help you: http://www.spanishdict.com/topics/show/59
Much is used by itself to mean often as in "She doesn't visit her family much."
or in expressions to mean "much the same": "We left the house much as we found it."
It is used as an adjective with nouns or as an adverb describing adjectives or past participles.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/much
It is used with other words "too much" , "not much", "very much", "so much", "much better", "much more", "much pleased", "much interested", "much the same"...
Technically "a lot" is the same, but similar words often have a different "flavor". You could use "a lot" to mean "often", but you would not use it to mean "very". It is used more often without another word and to use it with a noun you would have to add the preposition "of" after it. People generally have a preference for one word or the other for different situations. Another expression would be "a great deal". If you feel "much" should be allowed, then report it. Keep in mind that more often people will use "a lot" or "a great deal" when talking about rain, or any other number of expressions "cats and dogs", "by the bucket".....
If you want a shortcut to remembering the Spanish preterit irregular verbs, you are going to love thiswww.spanishcheatsheet.blogspot.com
"lluvio" is not a Spanish word, because the stress should fall on the last syllable here.
This website is the authoritative Spanish dictionary. When you type in llovió, the dictionary shows the verb in infinitive form defined in Spanish, press the conjugar button and you will see how this verb looks when conjugated. Pay attention to the Pretérito form (also known as Pretérito Perfecto Simple). You can also switch to Spanish/English version of this dictionary for definitions, but it won't show the conjugations there. http://dictionary.reverso.net/spanish-english/llovió
http://conjugator.reverso.net/conjugation-spanish-verb-llover.html
The sound I hear when, "llovió" is spoken on the web app, sound much like gu-vio or ch-vio or somewhere in between the two. I understand that ll is spoken differently in various regions. I was expecting something like yo-vio. Does the ll sound change according to the following vowel letters?
http://spanish.about.com/od/spanishpronunciation/a/pronouncing_ll.htm
You can listen here:
http://forvo.com/word/llueve/#es
http://forvo.com/word/llov%C3%ADa/#es
http://forvo.com/word/llovi%C3%B3/#es
Oh and you have another copy of this lower down so could you delete your extra copy of the same question.
The sound I hear when, "llovió" is spoken on the web app, sound much like gu-vio or ch-vio or somewhere in between the two. I understand that ll is spoken differently in various regions. I was expecting something like yo-vio. Does the ll sound change according to the following vowel letters?
Lots of reasons, khalil. There is no verb. You're using "rain" as a noun. There is not implication of past tense.
That is your choice, of course, but, if you tell us what you are having trouble with, we might be able to help.
Well there are a few issues, but I myself am under the impression that it is difficult to reach Duolingo itself. There were several issues I had to sneak into where sentences should be reported, or I had to write it into a forum only to see other frustrated users complaining of same issues.
For the new Spanish-Course from German the report is excellent, because the woman who develops it out of beta responds to any forum issue, but for technical problems with the site I feel like there is no one really to talk to.
I guess as usual: when sites grow large there aren't any incentives to grow the admin-staff accordingly.
many different things and mistakes. I never heard that u can conjugate the word rain? Like it rains/ she rains/they rain....sounds weird
You cannot say "she rains" or "They rain" unless you have an object. You can say "She rained candy down over the children." and "They rained rice down over the wedding couple." although even more often you will hear the expression "showered ....down". It can also be used to mean "give or administer abundantly." as in "He rained blows on his head." We do have a good example that is only conjugated with "it": "it snows". Scroll down at this site for "rain" definitions and uses. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rain
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Here's another use besides using "it rained." "He rained insults upon the Duo-owl's head!" ;-)
In English, we use present perfect instead of past tense. It has rained.....
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In school in Ireland we were always told 'a lot' was bad English - or, at least, lazy English!
This wrong. You don't say "muy mucho" in Spanish. If you wanted to say "I love you very much" or "I love you a lot," you would say "Te quiero mucho." Also, un English we don't say "I love you much."
It is not "very much." It is just "much." But in translation to English "a lot" is a more natural way of saying "much" in this case.
I got this wrong by translating to, "It rained very much today." Is this incorrect? If so, why?
I think it is the "very much." The example Spanish only has "mucho" so "It rained much today" not "very much". "It rained a lot today" seems a pretty straight forward translation.
I guess it would have to say muchísimo for me to translate to very much. I think its a bit silly for it to be marked incorrect, but oh well.
Yeah, a lot of duo sentences are a bit bizarre but they are geared toward demonstrating a particular point of grammar. So you can be oh so close but still be marked incorrect by the software depending on the grammatical point being conveyed. It can be quite strict and inflexible.
In peninsular Spanish you would say "hoy ha llovido mucho". The present perfect tense is used when the time period has not been complete, like today, this week etc.
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In terms of basic meaning, there isn't much difference. In terms of grammatical structure, they are entirely different.
It rained a lot = Llovió mucho There was much rain = Había mucha lluvia.
The most significant difference in these sentences is the verb. In the top sentence, rain is being used as a verb. In the bottom sentence, rain is being used as a noun and the verb is to have (in Spanish) and to be (in English). "There is", "there was", etc. translate a bit strangely across the English-Spanish line. Truthfully, I'm not 100% that "había mucha lluvia" is a proper sentence in Spanish. I don't have the whole 'there was' thing down in Spanish by a long shot. (If any native Spanish speakers are looking, I'd love to know if that sentence is good.)
FULL DISCLOSURE: Native English speaker - US, Southern Appalachian dialect. Other uses of English may vary. Advice about Spanish should be taken with a grain of salt.
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"Today rained a lot" has no subject. You need the word "it" for it to be correct or to even be considered a sentence in English. We almost always require subject words in English.
FULL DISCLOSURE: Native English speaker - US, Southern Appalachian dialect. Other uses of English may vary. Advice about Spanish should be taken with a grain of salt.
Native English speaker here, and I would say "today rained a lot". This isn't accepted - Duolingo has me questioning my English ability!
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Your English sentence is incomplete. "Today it rained a lot" would be accepted.
FULL DISCLOSURE: Native English speaker - US, Southern Appalachian dialect. Other uses of English may vary. Advice about Spanish should be taken with a grain of salt.
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It has rained a lot today, as "today" is an unfinished period of time that goes with the present perfect. In Spanish it is also: Hoy ha llovido mucho.
