22 Comments
"Is your son intact" is given as a correct solution - is this really correct English?
Is it correct - yes, there's nothing wrong grammatically. Is it normal - no. I might say it but I say all sorts of random abnormal things. I've never heard anyone else say this. It shouldn't be a suggested translation, I'm not even sure it should be accepted.
Grammatically, of course it's correct. What I should written is, "is this really how it would be normally expressed in English". I get where "intact" is coming from, but in this case "unharmed" would sound better since it's referring to a person.
I agree with these comments. In English, objects can survive intact, but people never do - they survive unharmed, or in one piece.
Doesn't sound too strange to me, given a context of some accident. Although "in one piece" is what I would personally use instead of "intact".
Most people would more likely say "in one piece", "intact" still sounds a bit odd but it does make more sense in that context.
1561
If someone asked me: "Is your son intact?" It is such an odd phrasing, that I would interpret it as meaning "Has your son been circumcised?"
I come from a farm background, and "intact" in reference to a male means that there has been no castration. A bull is "intact" while a steer is not. Nothing whatever to do with "okay" or "unhurt." Really bad sentence in the English version.
Here's my mnemonic for цел: Recall the film Marathon Man where the character "Szell" asks "is it safe?"
As I have already written in response to another comment in this formum, цел" does not mean safe. It literally means either "in one piece" or "intact" - choose the one that fits the context.
"Цел" is a short form of "целый" - an adjective meaning "whole" or "intact".
"Safe" (adjective) in Russian is either "безопасный" (if you describe someone or something that does not pose danger to you: this car is safe) or "в безопасности" (if you describe the state of not being in danger: I am safe here).
Is this only used in circumstances where injury is a possibility (e.g. the son is a soldier, or there has been an accident)?
Or can it be used as a more general expression of concern?
e.g. "Is your son alright? He seems a bit tense."
Yes, it used in circumstances where injury is possible. Not in "Is your son alright? He seems a bit tense."
"In one piece" is used in many languages, if you think of it.
I'm surprised I haven't seen more comments about "alright" being used in this translation. I'm a native English speaker in the US, and it was drilled into me in school that it was "all right", not "alright".
https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/alright?q=alright
Informal, but not necessarily wrong. It probably shouldn't be used in writing - but Duo is a hardly a purveyor of formal writing style.
