"Proszę mamę o nową komórkę."
Translation:I am asking my mom for a new cellphone.
34 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
Given the fact that "matka" is really quite formal (while 'mother' is more formal than 'mom', but still pretty neutral), we want the default English translations to be "mom" for "mama" and "mother" for "matka".
"mother" is still accepted, of course. Actually it's a choice of Duolingo programmers to accept it automatically whenever "mom" is accepted.
763
Is 'komórkę' here in Accusative case? If yes, does the verb 'prosić' always takes a noun in Accusative?
885
I am a native Spanish speaker and in Spanish we don't use any preposition with the verb "ask for". That's why sounded weird to me, I Guess.
Ah, I see. Grammatically, you definitely need a way to distinguish between the person who is being asked and the thing you're asking for. I can see how 'proszę coś' might seem logical, but the accusative is already used for the mother, so you either need a different case for 'komórka' or a preposition. Well, and Polish chose the preposition to tell them apart.
If I'm not mistaken, it would be "Le pido a mi madre un móvil" in Spanish, where the recipient of the request is distinguished by the preposition 'a', whereas the object (móvil) doesn't need one anymore. So, it's the other way round here.
885
Yes! You're right, but in Spanish is like that because the accusative that refers to persons and animals needs the preposition "a". That´s why I say "Yo amo los libros" (I love the books) and "Yo amo a mi madre" (I love my mother). Interesting, right?
498
"I am asking Mum for a new computer" was not accepted.
Neither was "I am asking my Mum for a new computer".
The algorithm seems to accept only American English.