37 Comments
I agree, but it could be either on or in. I think "on" would tend to be used to indicate being on the subway train, while "in" would indicate a landing or boarding area ("in" the tunnels rather than the train).
In russian there is two different meanings:
Они в метро - they are located below ground, IN the subway station or train. We can used it when want to say, that you can't call them with mobile, because there no signal IN subway.
Они на метро - they are moving WITH USING subway (metro train), and now they are moving on train or move anywhere through the station. We can use it when want to say, than you can't see them on the usual bus stop, because they moving WITH undeground.
I typed , "Are they on the subway?" And got it wrong. I believe its because that would be "они на метро? На being used for "on".
In russian there is two different meanings:
Они в метро - they are located below ground, IN the subway station or train. We can used it when want to say, that you can't call them with mobile, because there no signal IN subway.
Они на метро - they are moving WITH USING subway (metro train), and now they are moving on train or move anywhere through the station. We can use it when want to say, than you can't see them on the usual bus stop, because they moving WITH undeground.
Why is "are they on the train?" not accepted for this sentence? Are the words for train and subway different?
I'd imagine because "train" is usually above ground, whereas "subway" is usually below ground.
This should work.. it's not a test for correct use of English prepositions!
Excuse me, but in English [US], we would most commonly say, "Are they at the subway/metro?" Due to the metro being a place to be, and not necessarily the metro "train" itself. Unless they are speaking about that, in which case, please do disregard this comment, as that would make sense. :)
No native speaker ever says, "I am at the subway/They are at the subway." We say, I am on the subway/They are on the subway." In some rare cases, we may specify, "I'm in the subway.", but likely only in a case such as, "OK I'm going to lose cell service, I'm in the subway now."
In one translation "a metro" is accepted and in this one it must be "the metro" even though there is nothing to suggest that the first option would be wrong. I believe it should be changed
Really? When have you ever seen a place that has two metros? The word is always singular because the transportation system it refers to is city-wide, which is why it's called "metro". When there's only one locally, it's always "the" metro.
Then change it in the one which accepts "a metro". Regardless of which one you believe is correct, there is a clean discrepancy there. Too bad I don't remember which other exercise accepted "a metro".
Well, since I have no idea either, and I don't make such changes, I'd suggest you report it the next time you see it.
So, I hear this в sometimes merge with the word after it, but sometimes with the word before it. Is there any special rules for it?
17
It's mostly just whichever word starts/ends with a vowel. Они́ в метро́ sounds like "oniv metro" because они́ ends in a vowel.
At least, I think so. [2019/04/07]
I think the problem with this exercise is that in English, it is very common to say "on the train" when we mean "in the train" (we usually don't mean that we are riding around on top of the train).
I can never hear the B no matter how many times i listen. Is it possible to distinguish or do you just memorize when it is used on based on context of the other words?
Both in English we pronounce article "a" as russian [Э], not as alphabet letter "a" [Эй]. And in Russian we pronounce the preposition "в" as english [V] (very, video), not as alphabet letter [Vi], just as short v sound. Maybe you mean it, when say "silent" I don't know. But Duolingo pronounced it incorrect, as well as english article a in English from Russian course.
