"Je ne peux pas porter seul cette valise."
Translation:I cannot carry this suitcase alone.
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I hear "portaire" or something like that, are my ears wrong or is it the audio?
I hear "portaire" too. It should be "porté" (for the sound, the orthograph is correct)
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Yes, wrong pronunciation! Arg! They should have an actual voice do the readings as opposed to a computer voice. How annoying. :(
Two mistakes in this sentence: on top of already reported "portaire" instead of "port-eh", "valise" ends with an IZ sound, not ISS.
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OK, so I'm a little confused on what this sentence is trying to convey. Is it trying to say (a) that I'm incapable of carrying the suitcase or is it (b) that I don't want to only carry this suitcase (when there's more I could carry). I responded "I cannot carry only this suitcase" which was said to be incorrect, but I was thinking of (b) which "only" would be appropriate for. However, if the (a) is the intended meaning, then "only" isn't appropriate. This may be an ambiguous sentence.
For the meaning (b), "seul" would be replaced by "seulement". So the only possible meaning "I can't carry this suitcase just by myself".
It means, "I cannot carry this suitcase by myself" (e.g., it's too heavy for me).
Simply, I cannot carry this suitcase alone. Alone goes at the end in English.
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I think another problem is that the voice is female, but "seul" is masculine. Shouldn't it be "seule?" I have found many similar errors in my study of thrtee languages. Perhaps Duolingo should consider both male and female voices. This would also help train one's ear. Also, I heard "portaire" also, and as a musician, I have a pretty good ear.
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The voice is just a narrator. For better or worse, you're not meant to make any assumptions about gender from it.
The correct form of English should be: 'I cannot carry this suitcase on my own/ by myself'
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As far as the pronunciation of "valise" with an "ss" sound at the end instead of the correct "z" sound: I don't understand how the speaker can be doing this wrong if she is a native French person. Which I would assume they would use!! There are many of these mistakes in correct pronunciation that even beginning French speakers can catch.
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It's not a native French speaker, it's a computer-generated voice. It does have errors. Google Translate, which is no good at all for translating, has a much better robot voice.
Edit: Even better are the several voices here: http://www.acapela-group.com/
Duolingo is trying to teach you that seul means alone. In French myself is translated very differently, like Je me lave. I wash myself.
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Yes it is. RoboGirl is not infrequently a bit off in her pronunciation, I'm afraid. I gather it will be a very big deal to re-fit her with better algorithms and so far it's not been done.
The feminine "seule" is one of many homophones that the system cannot recognize properly these days.
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Why does "seule" not work in this sentence? What is difference between "seul" and "seule". They both mean "alone" so why can't I use it?
"seul" and "seule" are homophones, whereas the computer-checker can only compare what you entered with the written original sentence ("seul"). The dictation exercise for this sentence was disabled months ago, but it seems that it is still presented to users. Unfortunately, there is nothing else I can do to avoid this issue.
It is not "lonely" nor "only".
"seul /alone" in this case means "by myself". This sentence means that you need help to carry your suitcase because it is too big.
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Validity of words are very much connected to their popularity in use. A word can become as obsolete as a computer program. If not used it has no meaning. If used by few, and replaced by another, it loses its hierarchy.
Etymology of Valise (or suitcase, as some have claimed) - http://bit.ly/valise-source
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Yes, but in the case of "valise" in English, I see no evidence that it has become obsolete. Its occurrence rate in published English hasn't really changed in over 80 years, and is even showing a recent increase. What has changed is the increased popularity of "suitcase." But "valise" is very much still in use.
But as I've said, I agree that "valise" is not the translation of «valise» (it has become a false cognate).
