"Oni słyszą dzieci."
Translation:They hear the children.
11 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
I translated this as "They hear the children", which was incorrect. Is there a reason why it should be translated to English without an article?
Polish sentence does not have much information,
so both potential English translations are correct:
(Oni) Słyszą dzieci - They hear children (all children)/
They hear the children (specific group of children)
Can you write "They are hearing the children"? Maybe that doesn't make sense in english? English is not my native so idk...
2728
Yes, you can. It sounds a little odd, i can't quite explain why, but there are contexts where it would sound right. Same with seeing. Hearing and seeing are more passive, like a state you are in, compared to listening or watching, which are actions.
- 1877
Tj1983, you're right that that the verbs 'hear' and 'see,' like 'perceive' or 'know' are more like a mental state, they don't indicate a process. You either see / hear / perceive / know something or you don't, though to indicate coming to that state you could preface them with 'begin to,' or 'get to' for 'know,' as in the song, 'Getting to know you.' This is why it seems odd. Such verbs are not usually put into a progressive (UK /continuous) tense (be doing, etc.), although McD grabs our attention by deliberately using it: I'm loving it -- perhaps to change English forever. :-)
