"Mój tata jest pisarzem piszącym książki o motylach."
Translation:My dad is a writer who writes books about butterflies.
14 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
Vladimir Nabokov, who wrote "Lolita", had a butterfly collection.
Dobranoc na cziemnosć.
(OK, that's the best I could come up with for "A good night for mothing" :P )
1732
Why I cannot write "My dad is THE writer who writes books about butterfiles" ? Because we have recognized him as the writer ?
I believe that using a definite article should be accepted. Are you sure that that was the reason your sentence got rejected?
It is indeed accepted.
Apparently the typo in "butterflies" was what made that answer rejected.
Does the Polish sentence imply that my dad is in the process of writing a book about butterflies right now? Or does it imply that he's known for books on butterflies that he has written, although he isn't writing any more now? Or both?
He generally writes books on butterflies. If he was writing one (even not his first) now and we wanted to say that, that could be "piszącym książkę o motylach", but that's a very unusual thing to say. "Mój tata jest pisarzem i właśnie pisze książkę o motylach" (and just now he's writing a book on butterflies) would be my way of saying that.
My dad is a writer of books about butterflies should also be accepted, as it is the most common way to convey that semantic content. The accepted translation is awkward and seldom heard.
Perhaps, but we are teaching a structure, and "piszącym" is exactly the word this sentence is supposed to teach. If you don't want to go with "writing" this way, then we accept "who writes/is writing" as well, but this really should have some form of the verb.
I still give a little smile every time I see that Polish word meaning "butterfly." I don't know why, but I just love the connection of that word with what it means. It seems almost lyrical.
"My dad is a writer who writes books on butterflies" was my translation; I was surprised it wasn't accepted, because I believe previous exercises recognize "on" or "about" as acceptable translations for "o"