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One of the translation options this word "erramos" shows is "we are wrong." Therefore, Nós erramos should be able to be translated "we are wrong." This should be correct.
Not exactly. To be wrong is to be incorrect, to be innacurate, to be misinformed. To err, or to make a mistake, is to have acted improperly or to be misguided. To be wrong, in English as much as in Portuguese, is more semantic or objective, while to err is based on experience and is more subjective.
That's correct.
Verb Errar is "to make mistakes" or "to make a mistake", not to be wrong.
To be wrong is "estar errado".
- We make mistakes = Nós erramos (also "made" and "have made")
- We are wrong/mistaken = Nós estamos errados/erradas
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Perhaps, there is a semantic distinction to be made in Portuguese, but there is none in English. To be wrong, to err, to make a mistake, to be mistaken etc. are synonymous.
"We messed up" is far to American and colloquial to be used as a translation for 'Erramos'. "Messed" has nothing to do with mistakes or errors, and "messed up" is meaningless with out colloquial context.
I agree that it's a little one that it's the suggested translation, but I think it's good when they include these alternative forms
Why did I also have to choose "We messED up" when it's only present tense? Thank you
Because in Portuguese from Brazil (or in certain dialects?) "erramos" can be in the Present or Simple Past tense. Now in European Portuguese, after the new orthographic agreement, the accent is optional.
In European Portuguese the past tense would be spelled "errámos" and the present tense "erramos"
This would translate into British English as "We've messed up" (present perfect) the idea being that we're conveying a situation in the present - we have made a problem for ourselves and now have to deal with it.
Since American English tends to eschew the present perfect in favour of the past simple, we end up with a reference to the past to describe a situation in the present. "We messed up" still tends to mean "We have a problem to sort out."
In Brazilian Portuguese the nós form (and only the nós form) is identical in the present and past. In European Portuguese, they'd add an accent to the past form - errámos (I believe the pronunciation is unchanged).
"We make a mistake", would never actually be said in the US and, I don't believe, in the UK either. It would either be "We made a mistake" (for something that just happened) or "We're making a mistake" (for something that is currently happening). Or it's incomplete in the case of saying "We make a mistake when..." Also "We err" or "We have made an error" / "We're making an error", etc, would be the more exact translations I think.
very astute mlitsonata!!!!!!!!!!! are you a pianist or just someone with good taste?
I have lived in various regions of the US and in the UK and can't remember hearing anyone ever use "err" other than in the expression "To err is human...."
That's a shame. If "to err" were common, this translation would be so easy....
To err is certainly the closest translation.
"Errar é humano".
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Ha ha, I was doing timed practice and put, "we error" instead of 'we err.' Then I was mad because Duo said I got it wrong, it said it should be 'we erred.' But it can be present tense too so I reported that it should be accepted. Only ironically I erred.
I am so confused by this. I am a native British English speaker and never used "we messed up", but use "our mistake" and it was marked wrong. Would that be wrong if I said "we are mistaken"?
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I am not a native Portuguese speaker, but my understanding is that "errar" has the meaning of the action "to make a mistake." To be "wrong" would be a state of being and would use the word "erro" For example: Eu fiz um erro. I made a mistake. That is my take on it. "Errar" means action; "erro" is the thing done. Hope that helps.
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Dear Delvi : it is not correct to say "Eu fiz um erro". The correct is "Eu cometi um erro" or "Eu errei" (I make a mistake). The setence "Nós erramos" is complicated. Can be "present" (We make mistake) or past (We messed up). All the third personals are complicate, without a context : Nós erramos (present and past)- Nós comemos (presente and past) - Nós dormimos (presente and past) - Nós trabalhamos (presente and past) Ok. Sorry for my mistakes. I am brazilian and I am starting studyng English.
love you clifford pereira. i'm a native (sorry) us english speaker and that was my first thought. but "our," is "nossa," not "nos." that's where we erred.
I submitted "we err" and it was accepted. "To err" is an English verb, just doesn't have common usage. I err, you err, he/she errs, etc.
Correct. It isn't often heard in day-to-day English; natheless (nevertheless), it is grammatically correct. The possibility for expanding the data base is endless. ;)
in Portuguese, "to mess up" can be also used meaning other things. ie. we messed up = nós estragamos (tudo)
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Would "We err" also be correct? Não é uma maneira comum em inglês, mas é possível...
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Desculpe.... "we err" is a way of saying we have done something wrong, in English. It is not a common way, but it is correct in English. I was wondering if it is also a correct translation of "Nós erramos."
Oh, I understand it now. Well, I guess it's correct, just like Tiago_Moita said. =)
Can't several people make one mistake? The singular should be accepted since "erramos" don't give more information about the mistake(s)
Yes.
- We make a mistake / We made a mistake.
- We make mistakes / We made mistakes.
according to the dictionary errar also means to wander. There is no context in this statement so why is my answer wrong?
Is it just me or is the pronunciation or accent hard to decifer for the word erramos?
duolingo's robotics leave much to the imagination. do yourself a favor -- whenever you open duolingo, open another tab right next to it presenting google translate. nice speaker with more even speak and better enunciation -- less speed/velocity.
I put "We screwed up" and Duolingo marked it wrong. Also, what is the present-tense of mess up in Portuguese if "erramos" is past-tense?
we make mistakes - present tense. we mess up - present tense but that's shown as incorrect, you need to write past tense We messed up. dumb translation
We are in the present skill..... the Portuguese sentence is in Present tense too (as well as past).
I wrote "we mistake" and it was marked wrong. If "nós bebemos"=we drink then "nós erramos"=we mistake should be grammatically correct both in written and spoken forms... (to 'mistake' is also a verb therefore can be conjugated as such)
"We mistake" all by itself is a pretty strange sounding sentence in English. Is very odd to use the verb "mistake" without an object as in "We mistake her for her sister every time we meet."
Yes, and it doesn't mean "errar" either. It means "confundir".
- We mistake x for x2 = Nós confundimos x com x2
The solution that shows for me is "We missed." Can someone clarify? This isn't the same as "We make mistakes,"
Most "nós" conjugations match between present and "pretérito perfeito". This is no exception.
- Nós erramos = past and present
- Nós erramos = We made mistakes / We made a mistake / We missed
- Nós erramos = We make mistakes / We make a mistake / We miss
"Miss" there can only be used in the sense of making mistakes, which is the best option. In bold, the best translations (most natural way of using the sentence in Portuguese) for each tense.
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' We are wrong' is the correct translation. The egregious and ugly 'got' has no place in any translation of this verb. To be wrong and to make a mistake are synonymous.
agreed. and it's confusing in a lesson about the present tense to be told that the "right" answer is "We got it wrong" (past tense!)
What about we are in error. We err sounds awkward, even though technically correct.
Please refer to Maryanfirpo's reply to Delvi's post regarding "we are wrong":
Not exactly. To be wrong is to be incorrect, to be innacurate, to be misinformed. To err, or to make a mistake, is to have acted improperly or to be misguided. To be wrong, in English as much as in Portuguese, is more semantic or objective, while to err is based on experience and is more subjective.
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If you are going to talk about a single "mistake" then you would need to write, "We make A mistake." "Mistakes" is a plural word; "mistake" is singular. With the singular, you need an article, "a."
1950dircene, the reason it's wrong is that is improper grammar. we make mistakes, we made a mistake, we made mistakes. but we make mistake is wrong, as it needs the "a" in front of mistake.
The most common way I've heard is a breathy 'h'. User ThanKwee suggested this resource in another discusssion:
http://blogs.transparent.com/portuguese/how-to-pronounce-the-r-in-portuguese/
The long version is here:
http://hackingportuguese.com/pronunciation/portuguese-r-the-long-version/
This is Americanism slang and not necessarily used in England. We are more likely to say 'we made/make a mistake'
There's an expression "pisar na bola" (literally to step on the ball) which is often translated as "to mess up".
Emeyr is right, "make a mistake/commit an error" is much more usual.
That being said, there's really nothing 'wrong' with your translation, it just sounds slightly unnatural.
Just another way of saying "make a mistake". It sounds rather archaic or literary. It's also the root of the words "error" and "errant".
Apparently, I got the word wrong, and the correct way of saying it was, "We got it wrong", but here it says, "We make mistakes."
Any help here?
