"A formiga tem menos de dez centímetros."
Translation:The ant is less than ten centimeters long.
14 Comments
I would sure hope so, I don't ever want to see an ant that is MORE than ten centimeters long...
If I were asked, "How long is the ant?", then I would just reply, "Ten centimeters.". Adding the "long" clarifies the sentence when it is isolated, like here. The problem I am having is whether I should translate what is written in Portuguese or modify it by throwing extra words like "long" in this sentence, or in a previous one, "five years (old).". Are we trying to translate what is given or polish it up into a dynamic translation? The grading can't distinguish all the possibly correct answers in how we express ourselves so I try for the simplest form. We need to know the philosophy of translation that is being used, if there is any.
I would omit -long- from this translation: it since it also could be -wide- -tall-, -thick- -in diameter-, and what have you.
Although, I inferred from another thread that when unspecified in Portuguese, it's about length.
I left it out because I didn't think they would accept "extra" words and they accepted it.
Why would we use "menos de dez" here instead of "menos que dez"? I seem to remember learning than=que.
Both options are fine.
"De" can be used when it's about numbers.
But "que" is used in comparisons, while "de" is not. Comparisons like "i have less/more than you (have)".
Eu tenho menos/mais que você (right)
Eu tenho menos/mais de você (wrong, unless you mean you are losing/incorporating the features or characteristics of that person in you) - This would mean "I have less/more of/from you".
Eu tenho menos/mais do que você (right)
Can this also mean "Ants are less than ten centimeters" or would that be "As formigas têm"?
"Pay attention to the accents" There's no accent in this sentence is there?
