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- Topic: Polish >
- "Gdzie masz krótkie spodnie?"
26 Comments
Stupid question. Where do you have your short pants. 'Where are' is much simpler.
It doesn't say twoje, so why is the answer "your" short pants? Is "where have you got short pants?" Really not ok? For example if i went to a store and asked
well If you went to a strore and asked this you would be perceived as very rude. (If you do not feel like using Pan, you can always use plurals in shop,)
but you are right that while 'your" is implied, it is not stated, so I think answer without is should be accepted.
I don't understand this sentence. Where do you have them? Does this mean like where do you keep them, or where do you wear them? Or where in the store can I find them?
My first thought is: "You were supposed to wear (or at least 'to take') short pants, where are they? I don't see them, do you have them in a bag or did you leave them at home?".
Second thought: "Where in your house do you keep your short pants?".
"Where do you wear them" - nope.
"Where in the store can I find them" - maybe. Not with "masz", unless your friend works in the shop so you can be that direct with them. Plural "macie" is more probable, but not exactly polite. "Gdzie mają państwo krótkie spodnie? (Formal You, plural, mixed) is okay. Mixed is most probable because you'd rather refer to the shop rather than some specific people - although if all the staff you can see is of one gender, then perhaps panie/panowie would be fine.
But is this counstruction, using "mieć", something you would normally use when talking to a shopkeeper?
Seems probable enough to me. Perhaps a better choice of words is "Gdzie znajdę...?" = "Where can I find?" (well, literally "Where will I find?").
Does "short pants" here translate to our "shorts"? Also, I found that I am unable to use "krotki" when identifying a short man. The word required was "niski". Is that the case? One cannot use "krotki" for "short" when identifying a short man or some person?
Yes to all of your questions. As for krótki vs niski just think of krótki as referring to length and niski as referring to height.
"Where are your shorts?" I don't think I've ever heard them called "short pants/trousers". See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shorts
Oops - just looked at what i typed again. Looks like it came out as "we are" rather than "where are".
Mostly this just bothers me because we're talking about trousers, not underwear, and in English we stopped using the word pantaloons to describe our trousers ages ago.
Obviously both pants and trousers are accepted. That is I think one of the most absurd differences between BrE and AmE - 'pants' mean 'underwear' in BrE and 'trousers' in AmE. Duolingo, as an American company, rather favorizes American translations.
Ah. I didn't know that they were American. They use the wrong English, but what can I do? (N.B. Favours, not favorizes)
555
Ireland also use pants to mean trousers and underpants for underwear, I assumed UK English would too
- 929
'pants' to plurale tantum, czyli rzeczownik(noun) który występuje tylko jako liczba mnoga, a w liczbie mnogiej nie używamy przedimków nieokreślonych(indefinite article) w języku angielskim.
'Where do you have short pants' prawie na pewno jest tu akceptowane. ;)
Too literal, we have to construct the clumsy 'where do you have' when we would say 'where are', using the same principle as 'I am 50 years old' for 'mam...'
