"בבקשה, שישה עשר לימונים."

Translation: Here you are, sixteen lemons.

[Hannah649004]

Please can someone explain this sentence to me? I don't understand if this is a request for 16 lemons or someone giving someone 16 lemons. In English "Here you go ..." would be giving something and "Please" would be a request.
Thank you

[Luchtmens]

I think it can mean both and the actual meaning depends on the context (though I'm no native speaker). I believe the word order might also slightly indicate the more possible meaning: שישה עשר לימונים, בבקשה would more likely mean "Sixteen lemons, please", while בבקשה, שישה עשר לימונים would more likely equate to "Here you go, sixteen lemons".

[YardenNB]

I'm a native speaker, and your analysis is precise and excellent.

[Rory489371]

same. it is contextual

[jeftapruim]

Its actually really weird that English has no nice way of saying "Here you go". In a lot of languages, its same as saying "please"

[Theresa754142]

Bevaqasha, shisha asar limonim.

[mitchellackerson]

since when does בבקשה mean here you go? Please but Here you go? Never in my life

[DanRosauer]

I think that is about variation in English between different countries. What would a polite person say to you as they hand you the lemons that you just paid for? That would be the translation in this context.

[jeftapruim]

English is actually pretty weird for those not being the same word, in a lot of languages thats the same word

[David392301]

"Here you go" is a strange way of translating "בבקשה" I suppose technically it is correct (as is: "if you please" or "here is your order" but it's rarely written like that in English. Very strange.

[MAJC4]

Couldn't it go either way? "Sixteen lemons, please" or "here you go, sixteen lemons". When not connected to a conversation how do you know?

[NaftaliFri1]

I think it could, and I think the exercise accepts both

[Walrosse]

It doesn't work both ways (at least it doesn't sound right to me).
If you want sixteen lemons, you would say: "שישה עשר לימונים בבקשה".

[2finalbriancells]

For all I know, they now accept "here you go, sixteen lemons".

[DanRosauer]

Yes. It was the only option in the 'choose words' version. So strange!

[FrozenMango747]

Here's how Duolingo Dictionary defines בבקשה:
https://www.duolingo.com/dictionary/Hebrew/%D7%91%D7%91%D7%A7%D7%A9%D7%94/dfbb15a79f18aa681c9a1f55b6579008

[Debs2308]

You are welcome,.... is marked as wrong when it should be correct!

[jeftapruim]

It's not the same as "here you go".

This concept is incredibly hard to understand for native English speakers I think, because English really doesn't have a word for it, but it's certainly not meant to mean the same thing as "You're welcome".

Lemme give you an example in dutch. In dutch, 'please' and 'here you go' are both 'alstjeblieft', literally translated 'if it pleases you'. So in that sense, also בבקשה means "May it please you". It is not a way 'youre welcome' , because 'you're welcome' means more 'I Grant you this'. Difference between hoping they like It and saying you Grant It.

Its subtle now that I think about it, but in other languages than English there's a strong difference

[L69CkHea]

How about if you're waiting in line, could you say בבקשה like "after you, please" ? Or if you're sitting on a bus and you want to give your seat up to someone?

[YardenNB]

Yes and yes, provided you accompany it with an appropriate hand gesture.

[L69CkHea]

Thanks!