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- "Ты знаешь, где находится Аме…
31 Comments
1471
But it is ok just to say Ты знаешь, где Америка? right? I know we're practising находится, I'm just checking
998
I also wrote "lies" as in "to lay". I wonder if this can be counted as correct English...? I guess I want to say it like this because in German we also say "liegen" for this kind of sentences. "Где находится Москва?" / "Wo liegt Moskau?"
1654
No, "to lay" is transitive and requires an object. "To lie", as in "to be located" is intransitive and cannot have an object.
https://grammarist.com/usage/lay-lie/
Spanish, Italian and French make this even more interesting when they translate находится as reflexive verbs: "to find oneself". Even English does this in the children's prayer that begins "Now I lay me down to sleep..." The translation would have to be either "Where does America lie" or "Where does America lay itself".
For me, reflexive verbs at semi-transitive, because the object of the verb is the subject, and there can't be a real direct object of a reflexive verb - but it's kind of not intransitive, either.
That's a lot of peripheral digression, but relevant to looking at how this verb works. It seems to be semi-transitive, in the way that "lie" can be in the phrase "I lie [myself] down".
The question that remains for me is whether находиться is ever completely transitive, as in "to lay [something] [somewhere]". My gut feeling is that it is not, and a different verb is required for that operation.
Also, some source materials I've read say that the ending -ся means the verb is reflexive, so it technically can't have an object - thus making "to lay" absolutely wrong - unless you're just talking to someone, then "lay/lie" are basically the same thing - wrongly so, but usage trumps grammar most of the time
1654
While "situated" is a valid translation, it's not a very good choice of word, because it can refer to non-physical issues, like international policies. Even in a physical sense, "situated" requires reference to things around the main subject/object of the verb. "Located" is a much better word to use - it refers to actual physical location (whether on a map or elsewhere) and doesn't carry with it the nuances and connotations of non-physicality or references to other things, as "situated" does.
It may be that находиться can be used in a way which makes "situated" a better choice, but when talking about where some thing is, then "located" is a far better word to use.
Example: "America is situation between Canada and Mexico in the North American continent of the western hemisphere." "America is located there [pointing on a map].)
In other words, allowing "situated" when you actually mean "located" would be teaching non-native English-speakers poor English "diction" = "choice of word".
Duo may eventually allow it in this particular exercise, but I think that would be a mistake.
1654
Америка appears to be in nominative case, which would be proper if the sentence were simply где Америка?
Находится doesn't change the case - Америка is not the object of the verb, but the subject, plus the verb is reflexive (-ся makes it so, I believe), so it can't have an object. In any event, for orientation as to case, I look at the sentence as stating "America is where?".
2568
No. That would translate as: Ты знаешь, где [можно] найти Америку? but the sentence doesn't make much sense to me. Do you mean physically, or on a map?