"No son minutos, sino horas."

Translation: It is not minutes, but hours.

[Jonlenk]

It's not always clear whether the software is going for a literal translation or a more "correct" translation.

[soldmymind]

There you go translating "son" as the singular "it is" again

[OlzWolz]

Try to not to think too literally about translation. In english we do not say "they are not minutes" we say "it's not minutes". In spanish they happen to say "they are not minutes instead. There are many cases where a plural in English is a singular in Spanish also, "la gente es" and "the people are" being a famous one.

[rbonhardt]

I put "it is not minutes, rather hours"; althought this doesn't make as much since in english and I would never say this, rather is a correct translation for sino and worked in an earlier chapter

[lighghts]

I agree rbon: "They are not minutes, rather hours." or "They are not minutes, but rather hours." should be correct.

[fantasyflyte]

Why is the verb "son" and not "es" if it's singular translated?

[LaLangosta]

This makes sense to me translated to "It's not minutes, it's hours." You can say that in English and it still sounds natural. You have to remember Spanish and English have different ways of phrasing the same idea - they are two separate distinct languages after all.

[robofam]

In english we also say
'not minutes, but hours
' however this was incorrect here so we should not say what is correct for english. Many translations used in these exercises are incorrect english.

[steffensylvest]

No, but you should not interpret the meaning of the sentence, but rather the translation. If you know what I mean?
For example: If you se the sentence: "Mi madre" - everybody knows that it means "My mom", except that it doesn't, it means "My mother" - even though it might be the same thing, it is not.
Same everywhere here on duolingo, you should translate the sentences correctly and not how you would interpret it, as these are two completely different things.

[iamaarongeorge]

Agreed. hopefully they start changing this. It would help me differentiate similar words better.

[Hegemon54]

I but Its not minutes, but instead hours. Apparently thats wrong

[spiceyokooko]

Why is son it here and not they? Everywhere else son is they? I'm really confused about this.

[OlzWolz]

Because in English you do not say "they are minutes". It's actually strange of English we don't make the pronoun plural when the noun is in this case. Spanish is more "correct" as they do. Language is not an exact science and you have to expect these sort of discrepancies when translating. To be honest it's amazing there are so few.

[elizinmi]

I would expect that 'there are not' would be accepted with 'it is' as an alternate translation. What part of this lesson would give any clue about translating 3rd person plural as 3rd person singular....?

[mahaniok]

What is the phrase supposed to mean?

[bluemarimba]

"How many minutes until we can get out of here?"
"It's not minutes, but hours."

[semitones]

Can "Those aren't minutes, but hours" be correct, or would that be different in spanish?

[jonwiseone]

"There are not minutes, but hours." would that work?

[GorettiMaria]

Just got confused with this i thought son --> are in english
But why here translating with is

[jennyb233]

Is "sino" the same as "sin"? If not, how / why are they different?

[asthakur]

sin-without, sino-but

[jennyb233]

Ah, gracias!

[asthakur]

de nada :)

[joeybugger]

minutos almost spells minutes

[kenleybug]

ugh cant this be easier !!!!!!

[panlaw]

I think my translation is accurate and captures the intent of what is said in Spanish.

[H-Kier]

I protest that my translation is also correct. "They are not minutes, but hours".