40 Comments
I heard 'mi ' and not ni . Try listening to the slow version. It definitely does not sound like 'ni'
Sometimes I think they do this on purpose. Mi siquiera does not make any sense so even though it doesn't sound correct you should have been able to properly translate to ni siquiera. I know it's frustrating but it's part of the learning process. Try to remember that you aren't just translating words, but phrases.
Can someone please explain the difference between 'siquiera' and 'ni siquiera'
siquiera at least, even
ni siquiera not even
One is positive. One is negative.
It is comforting reading of others also struggling with remembering all the subtle differences. I take my notes and treat Duo as more like drills to supplement my other course work: online flash cards.
Argh! I'll never remember the difference between "siquiera" and "ni siquiera!" :-(
It's siquiera 'at least' and ni siquiera 'not even' right. I typed this to imprint it in my mind. Does anyone else wish you could leave little notes to yourself which could link back to the discussion page? Just thinking out loud.
yes! I was thinking about how I wanted to do that before I even saw your comment. Maybe having a "notepad" page open on my computer desktop or even an actual note pad next to me ...
I keep a pencil, a spiral notebook and my Spanish dictionary next to me when I am using DL online.
I would like it online so I could make a note for example "Using ni siquiera" and have it link back to this page. It would be 'searchable' like building our own dictionary based on discussions. Ideally we could link it to an independent dictionary or other spanish website. I do all I can to do everything online. I belong to another group and use Google Drive. Perhaps you can use find in Google Drive, I haven't tried.
I do something similar with an excel file. Although I never though of adding links back to discussion pages. I may have to do that now!
61
Great idea! I have a little notebook next to me when I am at my desk and then I "cheat" by going back to my notes. But I often forget it so notepad or some such would help with my IPad... Ah well, in my next life, I shall be organized (and fluent in Spanish¡)
One is positive, one is negative. I think the challenge is that in English the phrases are a little different, but if you think of it as "even" and "not even", maybe that will help.
i.e, Even though I was late, I'm here./ I'm late, but at least I'm here. >>> Siguiera estuve tarde, estoy aquí./ Estoy tarde, pero siquera estoy aquí.
vs. I arrived here and I wasn't even late. >>> Llegué aquí y ni siquiera estoy tarde. (I wouldn't be surprised if I misconjugated llegar for the 1st per preterite, but hopefully the illustration makes sense and helps in spite of that.)
- 190
Could it be "They don't even drink juice"? That was marked wrong but I'm not sure why.
No. 'They don't' is in the present tense. The bit that tells you this is in the past tense is 'bebieron', which means 'they drank'.
Bebieron gave me a hard time here. I could'nt figure out how drank fit in. Any reason it could not be beben, i probably would have understood that better. I would not say they did not even drank juice.
- 316
That's why I used "never even drank". It was marked wrong, but I liked using the past tense of drink so it mirrored the sentence better, instead of using a helper verb.
i did the same. I realise that's more of a present conjugation. But I feel like it would be the same in spanish. Or maybe something closer to "ellos tambien no beben jugo
No, we are learning the past form here. "didn't" should also be accepted.
Vegan lv. 68:
- Stop drinking juice
- Stop drinking tea
Ah, so that's how it was.
- 28
Why this is marked as wrong? "They even did not drink juice". Is there any difference between "even did not" and "did not even"?
- 185
We learn new things by being introduced to them. That was your introduction.
'they at least drank juice' seems to be a suggrstion in the drop down hints
drop down hints are word for word so, when you look at siquiera "at least" which also can be "even" shows up, but "ni" negates that and it becomes "not even"
Since drink is an irregular verb in English (drink, drank, drunk), with the past tense drank, I'm not clear on the translation with bebieron.
The core of the sentence, is "Ellos bebieron jugo." I would translate this as They drank juice.
When ni siquiera is inserted into the sentence, why does the form of the English move from "They drank" to "They did drink"? This doesn't seem like the same tense to me. Is it the same in Spanish? It seems like it would require another verb, like hiceron. Confused!
Bebieron is the past tense ie drank therfore should be They never even drank juice. Why was this marked wrong? Very disheartening!
My guess would be that your submission wasn't accepted because there isn't a "never" word in the sentence (like "nunca"). And this is one of those places where modern English and Spanish aren't totally compatible, because we don't typically say "they drank not". So instead they want us to use "did not drink".
That's my theory anyway :)
