134 Comments
one lingot ..just for your dedication for German...3 straight year...hats off to you..ich Leibe Deutsche.
My answer is "You can not say "nein"" is marked wrong. with "" I think should not be translated, and "can not" should be same as "cannot"
Agreed. I got the question right but they pointed out that "can not" should be "cannot." I could be completely wrong on this, but I think "can not" is acceptable.
Eh, it's not great English to say "can not" instead of "cannot." The former has snarky connotations like if you asked "can I play video games?" and the response is like "uh, you can NOT play video games."
There are instances when "can not" is useful. Something like "You can go to the shop or you can not go to the shop, it's up to you". Think that "can not" has an element of choice.
In that situation, the "can not" is only a coincidence. The 'not' is modifying 'go'.
In English, contractions indicate the flow of conversation. Not using them, i.e. saying 'can not' instead of 'cannot' or 'can't' sounds robotic and unnatural, even though it may technically be correct. It's best to almost always contract when possible, as this produces the most natural English
This isn't a contraction. This is a place where what used to be two words "can not", "every thing", "every one", etc, became one thing: "cannot", "everything", "everyone".
A contraction is specifically where you lose letters/syllables and use an apostrophe in their place "can't", "won't", "I'd", etc
No. Because this is only true for some words and they are very specific. It's basically just a giant list of exceptions.
In basically any case in which a native English speaker in casual conversation has a choice between a longer and shorter version of an English word, the speaker will more naturally choose the shorter. Lack of contractions (or such "shortenings" tends to sound overly formal, or robotic) I.e. in natural speech: will not -> won't; can not -> can't; cannot -> can't; are you not -> aren't you
It was marked as "almost correct" for me, but I still received credit.
Without thinking about it, I usually put "can not" if I don't use a contraction. Why? Because it's the simple negation of can. "Cannot" stands alone (as far as I can remember) as the only negation that concatenates the two words.
There is no such thing as willnot, shallnot, havenot, etc. You either have the verb + not or the contraction won't, shan't, haven't, etc.
So while cannot may be "more correct", it's certainly an outlier here.
Plus, when translating German into English, you always have verb+nicht. Easier when I'm "in the groove" to keep the negation as not+verb. Not to mention the number of times I've been quickly typing and hit the enter key while trying to add an apostrophe. The. Worst.
Wrong. "Cannot" has a different spelling, pronunciation and meaning than "can not".
If you're saying "can not", "cannot" and "can't" don't mean the same thing, then you might be a little confused as to what one of them means.
Have anything to support your claim?
The best thing I found in support of your cause is this article.
It states that:
Don’t use can not when you mean cannot. The only time you’re likely to see can not written as separate words is when the word “can” happens to precede some other phrase that happens to start with “not”.
We can not only break even, but also turn a profit.
It is possible to write can not, but you generally find it only as part of some other construction, such as “not only . . . but also.”
I'll admit, those are some decent examples of where can not sounds better than the contraction can't, but that's more to do with the presence of the phrase than anything. Besides ... the article goes on to say:
Can’t is a contraction of cannot, and it’s best suited for informal writing.
In formal writing and where contractions are frowned upon, use cannot.
It is possible to write can not, but you generally find it only as part of some other construction, such as “not only . . . but also.”
So it sounds like they frown upon can not, but that it's grammatically correct.
OK. So what are the definitions for all 3? I chose to use multiple dictionaries so as to have more than one source to cite.
Can't
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contraction of cannot Dictionary.com
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contraction of cannot Oxford
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short form of cannot Cambridge
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can not Merriam-Webster
Cannot
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a form of can not Dictionary.com
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can not Oxford
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can not; to be unable or not allowed to Cambridge
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can not Merriam-Webster
Can not
- Not really much out there since it's 2 words and most sites redirect to can't or cannot. Why? Probably because it knows they mean the same thing!
Anyways, I don't need more definitions because most of those dictionaries say the same thing.
The say that can't is a contraction of cannot which is a form of can not.
The one dictionary that differs is Merriam-Webster which says both can't and cannot are forms of can not.
I hope you can provide sources if you're going to offer a rebuttal. Until then, they all mean the same thing to me and you can NOT tell me otherwise.
i think you were marked wrong because you said "nein" instead of "no" . i said "can not" and i was marked right
When you get a listening-->writing excercise how are you supposed to know that quotation marks must be used? Duolingo doesn't care about punctuation anywhere esle so why make a big deal out if it here?
My thoughts exactly. You don't need to put a question mark in questions, why should I care about quotation marks here?
surely "nein" doesn't have to be in quotation marks for this to be correct - is there possible a reason for this?
I just got it marked wrong for the same reason. Said exactly what was on the solution, with the difference that I didn't used the quotation marks lol sigh...
Update 1 year later: "You can't say no to that" = "Dazu kannst du nicht nein sagen", not "zu das"
That cannot be correct. The form of "können" is incorrect for using "du" and the word order is not accurate. I also think the wrong "that" is used. Unfortunately, my German is not strong enough to come up with a proper alternative, other than to say "You can't say 'no'" and "You can't say 'no' to that" convey very similar sentiments, so "Du kannst nicht 'nein' sagen" should work. Hopefully a native German speaker can come and respond to the question better.
For all intents and purposes, I believe you're right. In normal conversation, to that would be implied based on whatever you're talking about. But just like English can make both of those sentences, German should be able to as well.
My guess is something similar to what he had would work.
"Zu das, kannst du nicht "nein" sagen."
You have the original and just add the subordinate clause to that. Of course I'm not a native German speaker, so there could be something more colloquial like Über das that is used instead.
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So my answer (which is identical with that given as the correct answer) was marked as incorrect. This is the second time this has happened in the last two days. I like Duolingo but this is just careless - and irritating.
Report it. That's how DuoLingo changes and improves. Posting here is fine, but it's just venting in the end.
Thanks! It's kind of like the instructions for living to be 100: eat one apple every day, for a hundred years.
I just got this wrong because I didn't put quotations marks around the "nein"! Really???
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Not that shocking really, since MANY others have reported the same thing already on this thread. Please make an effort to read the previous posts, before posting yourself. Often, your question will be answered, and away you go...
Wouldn't "nicht", in this sentence, come right before the infinitive verb; thus making it: "Du kannst "nein" nicht sagen"? Or is "nicht" there simply because it spesifically negates "nein"?
You should always be able to say 'no', it doesn't matter what Duo tells you, you always have the option.
I was finally able to get it counted correct when I spelled it out, instead of using the given words. I think it might be because it's wanting the "" around the word nein.
After listening a dozen times or so I know that I type exactly what they are saying but they mark it wrong. Something is off here.
but they mark it wrong
Please show a screenshot with the exact error message. Thank you.
I honestly can't take screenshots with my phone. It marked it correct once I typed it out and could put the quotation marks around nein, so I think it has something to do with the quotation marks.
I wrote it as well and it has been accepted. Maybe it is because of quotation marks. I used double mark: "no" (whatever it is called). You maybe used single one. It is just a theory :)
The double inverted commas have nothing to do with it. Duolingo just needs some education now and again!.
"Double inverted commas" are called apostrophes, and using them to quote something is incorrect unless the quote is within another quote...
Hi Jetsu-
You might want to clarify that what you said is only true of British English. In American English, it is correct to put quotations in double quotes, and quotations within quotations in single quotes.
Why do I say "Du kannst nicht nein sagen", but "Du kannst mich nicht sehen", that is, why do I have these two different positions for the adverb nicht?
Hopefully somebody will correct me if this isn't accurate, but I believe it's because you can be so flexible with the word order assuming all the verbs are in the right place. I believe "Du kannst nicht mich sehen." is also valid.
I couldn't find anything here about why it would be written "Du kannst mich nicht sehen": http://german.about.com/od/grammar/a/The-Position-Of-Nicht.htm
Nicht is an adverb. If the sentence has a direct/indirect object, like "mich" in your sentence above, this always goes before adverbs.
Oh, ok! So it doesn't have anything to do with the adverb itself, but with the presence of a direct/indirect object. Thus, I could figure "Du kannst mir nicht helfen" is the proper choice. Am I right?
Mine shows that because I don't have quotation marks around nein, it is wrong. How can you tell by listening to the voice that they are there?
You know because the sentence is structured as a quote. Same rules as in English.
welche ist wahr? du kannst nicht nein sagen oder du kannst nein nicht sagen.
When do you put nein at the end of a sentence? I never know where it goes.
The audio clearly says nichts, but the answer requires nicht. I think the audio needs to be corrected.
Agreed. I listened it to it several times because I thought it should be nicht, but the audio very clearly sounds like nichts. I reported it.
I don't think it sounds like nichts. She is just enunciating the final t and I think most people are mistaking that for an s. There may be an argument for her enunciating it too much, but I don't think it's wrong.
Audio on Pons:
The first link sounds far closer to the Duolingo audio to me than the second. I don't hear any sort of z sound at the end of nicht to make me think it's nichts.
Interesting. On my computer, it sounds more like the second audio. It may depend on the quality of our different audio systems. I'll try it on some different devices and with earbuds when I get a chance.
You may be onto something. I only tried it on one device myself but it may be hardware dependent.
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Is this not ok without the quotation marks? I could swear we had this sentence a bit earlier, without any quotation marks. And I think it works fine without them.. Help??
"You can't say no to that" is in German: "Sie können (or du kannst) dazu nicht nein sagen. Or: "Dazu (or zu dem) können Sie (kannst du) nicht nein sagen.
Because like in English, you put spoken text in quotes. It's what separates it from the rest of the sentence. If it were longer and not just "no", but instead "No way, Jose!", you would proceed to do the same thing. The sentence would become 'You can't say "No way, Jose!"' Whether it is one word or a full sentence should be of no consequence.
I've never seen a conjugation of say (i.e. say, said, says) that didn't have it's corresponding text in quotes.
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Yes, I think I understand your point, but the whole sentence is in quotes, with "nein" in quotes in the middle. The English translation only has "no" in quotes, which I can understand. But what is the reason the whole sentence is also in quotes?
Oh pardon, I couldn't put my comment in the right place. But my purpose of using quotation marks was to keep the translations and my notes separate. Should I let that?
Using one set of quotation marks ["] looks out of place. Normally quotation marks always have a set a the beginning of a quote and a set at the end of a quote if quotation marks are used at all. Consequently, you should have added a set at the end of each translation or omitted them entirely. I do think it looks better with full quotation marks.
Here is what you wrote, formatted more appropriately:
"You can't say no to that" in German is "Sie können (or du kannst) dazu nicht nein sagen" or "Dazu (or zu dem) können Sie (kannst du) nicht nein sagen."
That all being said, I think that the comments in response to your original comment, GeoSchribs, actually stem from Duolingo's punctuation rather than the punctuation in your comment.
{Also, I think you meant to say "Should I leave it?" in your last comment rather than "Should I let that?"; I'm guessing that the multi-faceted German verb "lassen" is to blame for the awkward English wording.}
In proper, edited text, yes, they do. However, keyboards rarely have these marks, so they have to be converted to the proper ones by some program. Duolingo doesn't have one such.
I wrote: "Du kannst nicht nein sagen" and IT WAS MARKED WRONG!ALL I DID WAS WRITE NEIN WITHOUT THE QUOTATION MARKS!!
Such problems have been fixed now, as far as I can tell! If it happens again, please submit a report :)
Yeah, so do I...It's kind of strange though, it should've been accepted "almost correct" as it usually says when you make a typo :)
aargh - I was going to put the speech marks in and then thought that they wouldn't be recognised lol
My answer: Du kannst nicht nein sagen. And this was a listening one for me... thanks, duo...
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I wrote, "Du kannst nicht nein sagen." It marked it wrong. I reported that it should be counted as correct; it may have counted it wrong, because I did not use apostrophes around "nein"??
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Lack of punctuation has always been ignored in Duo. Therefore why was I marked as wrong for omitting speech marks?
Why in "Du kannst nicht nein sagen." (You cannot say no.) are kannst and nicht next to each other, but in "Ich kann es dir nicht sagen." (I cannot tell you it.) kann and nicht are separated? In each case they mean cannot.
In German, isn't the first double quotation marks inverted: „Like this?"
It's low 99 at the beginning, high 66 at the end, „like this“.
(Unfortunately, some fonts - tuned for English, I suppose - make the closing 66 look like \\ when the should look more like // )
My translation was correct but the computer said it wasn’t! My first language is English and I must admit sometimes the English translations are not correct so this leads me to wonder if all the German sentences are correct too!!
It would help greatly if you click "My answer should have been accepted" under the report options. That submits it for review. Alternatively, if you want to write a comment about it here, please copy and paste your response in its entirety. I understand your frustration when things don't work as they should, but it's hard to guess what happened when we don't have the details!
My answer was written in German and it as word for word correct with the ‘right’ answer. I am confused.com!!
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If memory serves, I think at one point there was a glitch with this sentence, having to do with the quotation marks. I think the first and last ones were removed, now I see they are back again. Possibly that is another issue. I also see the English version only has quotes on the "no"...
Am I the only one who heard: Du kannst nichts "nein" sagen? I played it a few times on slow just to be sure and that is what I heard. Of course it was marked wrong.
It does not accept «nein» or »nein«, only "nein" which is ridiculous. It's been a YEAR
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So I am using a word bank and have listened to the sentence over and over and from what I have to choose from, I answer Du kannst nicht nein sagen. I am told I am incorrect. I don't have anything else available in my word bank and the answer is exactly as written above (without quotes-which I don't have in word bank). I have no option in 'report' for 'my answer should be accepted'. Is it just me?
That's what happened to me as well. The only way I could get it right was to type it in by hand, thus including the quotation marks. I'm certain it's those quotation marks that's making this occur.
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Me as well. Thanks to reading your reply I got it to work. I see a mod looked at this a week ago but maybe immediately went on holidays.
Once again I have been asked to write in German what I have heard and what I heard is "Do last night be in sagen". Filling up refuses to accept that. What can I do?
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John, your question doesn't make any sense. Want to take another stab at it?
I was asked to write in German what I heard from the audible file. What I heard was clearly "Du kannst nicht nein sagen". Using the word bank I did just that. Duolinguo refused to accept that as correct. Eventually I learned that I had to use the keyboard and put the word" nein" in quotation marks. This is the only time I have seen Duolinguo require punctuation marks.
By the way, I have no idea why my previous post was so garbled in transmission.
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Likely you have your autocorrect enabled, and sometimes the computer autocorrects to something other than what we had intended...Particular difficulties when trying to type in a different language...
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I wrote 'du kannst nicht nein sagen' and was marked wrong, I guess the 'nein' should have been in apostrophes!
Du kannst nicht “nein” sagen.
This is exactly what I wrote and it came back as incorrect. I’m not sure how to report it because it doesn’t fit any of the proposed categories. Could it be that it doesn’t like my quotation marks?
Actually, it seems like most people here have the opposite problem as you. They get marked incorrect for excluding single or double quotes. Might just be a buggy sentence. I wish I could try myself, but I don't feel I've personally seen this sentence in years :(
Sorry if that sounded mean, but I did not realize I needed to include them given that this was a listening activity for me.
Putting nein into double quotes makes it correct??? Don't think so. rather wrong on the Dulingo side!
Please post a link to a screenshot.
Vague comments about "I wrote the right answer" or "there was an error" are not helpful at all.
