"An avenue is a very wide road."
Translation:Aleja to bardzo szeroka droga.
19 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
Aleja jest bardzo szeroką drogą.
"bardzo" as an adverb doesn't change, "szeroka droga" as a noun phrase goes into Instrumental.
Do all noun phrases go into instrumental? Or is there some type of rule I can review?
It is simply the rule that, in the example above, the verb "być" causes its object to be in Instrumental.
The (much) longer explanation is here: https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/16373167/A-guide-on-X-is-Y-and-This-is-Y-constructions
Is this true of Poland? Here in Canada an avenue is a road that runs east to west and a street is a road that runs north to south
Really? I have never heard about anything like that o.O
Generally yes, 'aleja' is supposed to be wider, but sometimes it may just be a name without a real reason.
Also applies in parts of the USA. In Manhattan, NYC, "Avenues" run (approximately) North-South, and "Streets" East-West. This undoubtedly differs by city.
Fun fact - Milton Keynes, near to where I work, has numbered "V" roads and "H" roads which (approximately) behave the same as Manhattan's "Avenues" and "Streets".
("Vertical" and "horizontal", respectively)
This is one meaning of "aleja", but in cities it actually is indeed just a very wide road, probably with no trees.
According to other comments/explanations in this forum thread, and in other threads, there is some distinction in this course between a "road"("droga") and a "street"("ulica").
Jellei, you won't be surprised that I was surprised that Duo rejected "Aleja to bardzo szeroka ulica". (I wrote about road vs. street in another thread.)
To an Englishman living in Germany, Duo's English sentence is ... confusing. My definition would be: "An avenue is a road lined by trees" ("Eine Allee ist eine von Bäumen umrandete Straße"). There were many such main roads in East Germany (former GDR) before they were widened after German unification to improve traffic flow.
Aleja:
(1.1) droga wysadzana po obu stronach drzewami lub krzewami; zob. też aleja w Wikipedii (1.2) szeroka, reprezentacyjna ulica
So 1.1 is the same that you mean, but here we have 1.2.
Almost, but not quite... "droga" needs to be in Instrumental and therefore "drogą".
I think it's time I decide to give up on the distinction. Let's add "ulica" and "street" here.