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- "Czy ja słyszę kota?"
31 Comments
Lol... as I'm typing this answer, my ginormous orange cat is meowing loudly for his dinner!
Yup, it's usually "Chyba widziałem kotecka" - instead of 'koteczka' (a little cat, Genitive)
"Słuchać" which is used with Genitive not with Accusative. But in this case Genitive form happens to be the same as Accustive form. So:
Czy ja słucham kota? - Am I listening to a cat?
"I am hearing a cat?" is just as valid and means the same thing in English as "Am I hearing a cat?" but alas, was not accepted.
I'm afraid it isn't. In English questions, under normal circumstances, the verb comes first. Those two utterances are certainly not interchangeable. In fact, I can think of only one scenario in which someone might say something like that: Hypnotist (swings pendulum): "You are hearing a cat..." Me (incredulous): "I'm hearing a cat?!"
Hearing - shouldn't be used in continuous in English in this example... (plus it's a silly example).
You can have a look at the site here, especially the following quote:
"according to English Grammar by E. Istomina, A. Saakyan "The verbs of sense and mental perception (see, hear, understand) are used to express surprise, doubt, disbelief (especially in questions): What am I hearing here? I can't believe what I am seeing! Am I understanding you correctly?"
Maybe this shouldn't be the best option, but it doesn't look like it's incorrect per se.
That's something different. Did you see the example or are you "not seeing what I'm seeing"?!?
Yes, and the example seems to me like something said to a child (thus NanoRicci's comment about Tweety from Looney Tunes), and I see some 'doubt' in the sentence as well. Listen, I understand that you're a native, I am not, so I'm not really in a position to argue. I think this option is acceptable, although not the best. If you really think this is absolutely 100% wrong, I'll take it to the course creators and let them decide while I stay out of it.
746
You can VERY occasionally say "Is that a cat I'm hearing?" but this is very advanced English, and I don't think it should be in a course of this nature. What's more this use only occurs in certain constructions, and we'd never say "I'm hearing a cat", which was the answer I was obliged to give on the Android app, and I'm afraid is simply ungrammatical.
What you were obliged to answer, was "Am I hearing a cat?", as this is a question. And leaving aside if this is advanced or not, if you are wondering/surprised about hearing the cat, is this wrong? it is my understanding that this is exactly one of those rare situations where it can be used... and that it's more or less the same as "Is that a cat I'm hearing".
- 746
Any Learner's Grammar or dictionary will tell you "hear" is not normally used in the Continuous. This sentence would not appear in a standard English course, and I imagine would be marked wrong in an exam. As far as I can see, there is nothing in the Polish question that would suggest anything other than the standard formulation, "Do I hear a cat?" Many sentences can be used in non-standard formulations to add emphasis, but Duo doesn't usually accept these, let alone put them forward as the official answer.
I'm sorry, but I don't think the two sentences are more or less the same, and this rather illustrates my point. Yes, it is occasionally possible to use stative verbs in Continuous, but this is not the norm. These abnormal uses are very nuanced (see the examples at Stack Exchange), and it is very difficult for a non-native speaker to catch this. This is why I strongly advise my students and any other non-native speakers against using them unless they are 110% sure of what they are doing.
I certainly don't think it should be showing as the official answer in a language course of this type, and I'm afraid sentences like this do little for Duo's reputation. This course is meant for ordinary English speakers who want to learn Polish, not advanced linguistics students, and when they see sentences like this, many will just go "What?"
I also don't think it's a good idea that the many non-native speakers using this course should be encouraged to think that this is any way a normal sentence. Sorry, but as a professional EFL teacher, this is something I feel rather strongly about.
From Longman's Dictionary:
"You say: I heard a strange sound.
✗Don’t say: I was hearing a strange sound.
(In spoken English, people sometimes say I’m hearing to talk about something they have been told recently, especially more than once:
I’ve been hearing some nice things about you.)"
http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/hear
"Do you hear music?" NOT "Are you hearing music?"* http://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/support-files/stative-verbs-list.pdf
"I hear thunder" NOT "I am hearing thunder https://www.englishgrammar.org/stative-verbs/
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Am+I+hearing+a%2C+Do+I+hear+a
https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/150616/is-it-really-wrong-to-say-im-hearing
To czwarty przypadek, biernik. Dla 'masculine animate' wygląda tak samo jak dopełniacz.
isn't słyszę also means listen? I answered "do i listen the cat" and it's not correct.
In English, you have to listen TO something: "Do I listen the cat?" is not grammatical, it must be "Do I listen to the cat?”
Nie jest tak, że zupełnie nie może. To rzadkość, ale bywa tak używany.
"according to English Grammar by E. Istomina, A. Saakyan "The verbs of sense and mental perception (see, hear, understand) are used to express surprise, doubt, disbelief (especially in questions): What am I hearing here? I can't believe what I am seeing! Am I understanding you correctly?"
Zarówno 'surprise', 'doubt' jak i 'disbelief' zdają się dobrze pasować do tego konkretnego zdania. Ale faktycznie w większości sytuacji byłoby to nieprawidłowe.
