- Forum >
- Topic: Russian >
- "Ни у девочки, ни у её мамы н…
"Ни у девочки, ни у её мамы нет молока."
Translation:Neither the girl nor her mom has milk.
55 Comments
I believe the correct English translation, which Duolingo marked wrong, would be "neither … nor … has" rather than "neither … nor … have." If the construction were "both X and Y," then the plural verb would be correct. But the "neither/nor" and "either/or" agree with a singular verb.
It would? That sounds pretty unnatural to me. It's speaking of plural people (the girl and her mom), so I would think that "have" would be used. It would also be a plural item - technically - as they each have their own (glass of) milk; but saying "neither the girl nor her mom have milks" isn't right, because "milks" isn't really a word form.
This is one of those obnoxious caveats to English...
The girl and her mom do not have milk.
Neither the girl, nor her mom, has milk.
In the interest of learning Russian and not English, i vote that both "has" and "have" are accepted. Personally i don't care that i might use incorrect English sometimes. I just want to be able to speak Russian.
We talked about an analog case in german in a university class of linugistics and came to the conclution that both (have and has) are possible. I'm pretty sure it's the same in english. And I don't care about dictionaries, I care about native speakers
Thanks for the clarification, you are correct. Here is an added reference http://grammarguide.copydesk.org/2012/01/10/a-tricky-agreement-problem-neither-nor/
Pretty ticky-tack, but that does make sense I guess. I would always use the plural noun because it sounds more natural to me—and I am positive this is the way it is most often used—but for purposes of following some style guide I guess it is wrong.
I wouldn't mind both being accepted. It's annoying to be tripped up by some English corner case.
Please "unfix" it (and allow both). "Neither the girl nor her mum have milk" is disallowed. In extremely technical english, yes this is not technically correct, but even to degree level you would literally never be pulled up on that, and I almost never hear someone go for the "has" over the "have".
"Neither of them have" has 5x as many google hits as "Neither of them has"
Even the oxford dictionary agrees with both: https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/neither_1
the point is, if it is "neither book" then it is clearly "is", but when it's "neither of them" or "neither x nor y" then it becomes blurry, because plurals tend to go with plural verbs, so people tend to use the plural verb even though the "neither" pronoun is technically singular.
Shady, I literally used the plural version on two separate online grammar checkers and neither one dinged the plural verb version. Both should be accepted.
I believe you are correct. Several English grammar sources state that if both alternative subjects are singular, OR the one closest to the verb is singular, you should use a verb in the singular
As a native English speaker, i would absolutely use have and not has in this instance. "Has" sounds weird here. I dont really care though as i am trying to learn russian not english.
Yeah, who cares about the precise grammatical structure? do we have to state the obvious? This is a RUSSIAN course!! If anything, show us the correct English form but dont waste our time by marking it wrong and having us retype a long nonsensical sentence because of a minor detail. In the language that we ARE NOT supposed to be learning!
398
Neither the girl nor her mom have milk. As a native English speaker, i think this should be accepted. Im not sure if "has" or "have" is grammatically correct but "have" sounds more natural to me.
Neither the girl nor her mom have milk should be accepted - we would never say they has milk - true this is two independent persons each of which one could say the girl has no milk or the mom has no milk - but together they make a plural and we would always say they have no milk
.....er, "THEY don't HAVE any milk"...not.... "they don't HAS any milk"
Yes, I was marked wrong for ' neither the girl or her mom have milk' I'm sure that is the correct way to say it in English. She has, they have.
"Have" should be accepted. There are lots of non-native English speakers using duolingo and this obviously is some debatable English grammar in a Russian course.
As a native English speaker and I agree with you on the "have" option, or at least that both should be allowed.
- 612
There is an oddity in the English grammatical rule that leads to the need of avoiding certain sentences like "neither he nor I am..." (which is simply nonsense). That's why people tend to use a much logical practical contra-rule of using the plural form of the verb in such phrases.
both have and has should be accepted.. language changes by use and as a native english speaker has sounds wayyyyy weirder than have. Maybe there is some obscure rule about it but language is about communication and understanding, not adhering to a rule that only people who search for obscure rules will use or care about..
Seems like "Neither the girl nor her mother have milk" should be correct. It was marked incorrect.
Neither should be marked wrong, as this is a debate within English. A student typing either word has understood the Russian sentence, which is what the question is supposed to be testing. At worst, it should be considered a typo, not a translation error.
- 570
'Have' is far more common than 'has' when using neither/nor but 'has' its not horribly wrong. I always use 'have' with neither/nor.
I'm supposed to be learning Russian and I end up learning English. I always though "have" was the correct solution.
What is the meaning of 'y' here? Does it sounds ok without y? People will still understand right?
It is a prepositions. Consider sentences like "There is room in the theatre" or "There is no bread in the cabinet".
Russian can do the same, only with people: the typical way to express having is to say that something IS at someone.
Did I just got an English grammar lesson while I was trying to learn Russian?
I know it's a better translation, but I never say "nor" it feels unnatural and archaic to me, nearly shakespearean.
I put her mother instead of her mom . It should have been accepted as mom, mum,mama etc are interchangeable! Also in English as there are 2 people mentioned 'have' would be the correct verb!!
i swear whenever i type "nor" it says it has to be "or" and when i type "or" it says it has to be "nor"
The correct verb is has not have, doulingo seems not to be in touch with the community, this mistake is very old and they have not corrected or made any comment
I'm trying to learn Russian my English is fine and in this case need not be corrected, I'm not taking a course in English
- 390
You wouldn't say 'the girls don't has milk'. The girl and her mother together are PLURAL. In my book 'have' should be allowed, it's the way most normal people speak.
