70 Comments
Should there normally be a break in the spoken flow of words to represent "-", or is this just emphasis for teaching?
The dash substitutes the verb "to be" between two nouns in Russian, so I guess you should translate it as "Tim is an actor"
If you click on the first alphabet lesson, you should see a light bulb button become an option, if you click on that, it should take you too a textbook like page describing sounds and the letters. And the dash is explained
Russian doesn't usually use 'to be' in the present tense, but when you translate it to English you need to use it.
I put "but" instead of "and" and got it wrong.
In every other case like this it allows you to use "but"
It even says "implies contrast." Is that not "but"?
«А» doesn't have an exact equivalent in English which is why it can be translated as "but", "and", or not at all. This means we have to learn the general sense of the word instead of using the possible translations interchangeably. In this case, it would be most natural to translate the sentence as "No, Tim's an actor, not a medic."
is doctor a suitable substitute for a medic? In English, medic is a very general term.
Although I feel I this might be a bit too pedantic, I usually use "medic" for a more on-the-scene aid provider, whereas "doctor" is for someone who provides more formal, serious care (often in a clinic/hospital).
I'm aware that some make this distinction in English. The question is whether Russian makes the same distinction.
Doctor is a physician. Medic is a medical professional who is at a location where someone is injured. Such as a paramedic.
This might be "Brain Gas", but what is the "EM" in "EM-DASH" in the Tips and Notes? I know what the dash is all about but is it actually called an "EM" dash and is this a different kind of dash than the only one on my keyboard which is "-"? Em means eat normally so is this another meaning or is it the eat dash? :)
well... First of all - it's not important, we use "-" sign in russian everywhere except for typography :)
In theory short dash '-' is called 'дефис' in russian language. It's used for splitting part of words. For example: "как-нибудь" ("somehow") or чёрно-белый (black and white). There are a lot of rules where to put that dash, don't think about them now. long dash or em-dash in their terminology (I don't know what is EM) is used for splitting parts of the sentence. I don't like the example here because I would skip long dash in that case. Let's use the other example: Земля - планета в солнечной системе. Earth is the planet in the solar system Here long dash in used 'instead of' word 'is' - это or является.
But on russian keyboard we have only short dash, so use it everywhere if you're writing.
Thanks Zhenya! Russian seems to more efficient than other languages in that they cut out many prepositions, and using the dash to cut out even more...:) In the English language, we always go way overboard in all of the prepositions that we use. It think that sentence had 6...:)
The long one "—" is called an "em-dash" and the shorter one "–" is called an "en-dash" because the letter "M" is physically wider than the letter "N". The hyphen "-" is shorter than both. Theoretically the em-dash should be as wide as the letter "m" and the en-dash as wide as the letter "n". The English names for these come from the time of printing presses.
The answer depends on what operating system and keyboard you are using. If you are using Windows with a (physical) US keyboard you can hold down the [Alt] key while typing 0151 on the numeric keypad: "—". The initial [0] is important, otherwise you'll get "ù" instead. If you're using Android or iOS it will depend on which (touchscreen) keyboard you have installed. It might not even be possible on your current keyboard.
You can search the internet for how to enter an em-dash on your specific hardware and operating system to find out the answer.
You would also need to translate «Нет», that's why your answer was counted as incorrect.
Correct me if I am wrong, but shouldn't the spelling be "Нет, Тим актор - а не медик" for the sake of pronunciation? I spoke some Russian prior to this course and it sounds to me like they are saying "No Tim, not an actor, a medic" rather than "No, Tim is an actor, not a medic."
, but not a doctor: was said wrong, but I think you can translate "a" here with but too.
I put, "No, Tim is an actor, but not a medic." and it was marked as incorrect. Someone please explain.
I put in:" no, tim is an actor and not an medic" The second "an" must be an "a" Why is it not both times and or a?
In English whether you use "a" or "an" depends on the first sound of the noun or noun phrase. Use "an" before vowel sounds [aeiou] and "a" before consonants (everything else).
"an actor"
"a medic"
You can usually tell by the spelling, but some words are exceptions like:
"an hour" (the "h" is silent)
"a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" ("once" is pronounced "wunce")
"and" is called a conjuction. It joins two phrases together: "No, Tim is an actor. He is not a medic." -> "No, Tim is an actor and not a medic." ". He is" (including the full stop) is replaced by "and" because we are still talking about Tim.
Hello, it is even easier. Just go to settings, general and keyboard, and Add the russian one!! It is very cool (at least in iphone). If you are using in the computer, use this link: http://masterrussian.com/russian_keyboard.shtml -> you can type it there, and then copy it over to duolingo!!!
how do you pronounce the emdash?? or how do you apply it in spoken speech? or is it only for written words
the dash is only used in writing, not speaking, similar to other punctuation.
The answer is right! Word for word and gramma all correct, yet i am being marked wrong!
I said No, Tim is an actor, and not a medic. And still it says im wrong. Its a couple of times in a row now. I also had it on a few other sentences.
A dash is not a word. Why am I getting dinged for not replacing a dash with a word? I no language is a dash a word.
Aren't "doctor" and "medic" synonymous? So shouldn't an acceptable answer in English be, "No, Tim is not an actor, he is a doctor." In America we rarely say, "medic" we almost always say, "doctor"
Every time I have to say this sentence, I get marked wrong for the way I pronounce "а не". I say it like this : "uh-nee". What is the correct way to say it, then? I was just trying to say it like the way the duolingo voice reads it...
Why does it say that I used the wrong word when i typed: Tim is an actor, not a medic.
182
I wish duo allowed more than 3 attempts at speaking a given phrase. I'm a slow learner, sue me.
