"But they have no possibilities to win."
Translation:Mas eles não têm possibilidades de ganhar.
23 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
Why argue over what the Portuguese translation should be when the English sentence does not make sense. It should be they have no possibility of winning
duo lingo doesn't seem to realise that direct translation from one language to another is not always possible!!! When will they realise this???
should 'para ganhar' be allowed? Is this chances to win or chances of winning?
With possibilidade(s), we use "de".
The "para" preposition would suggest the possibilities are used to win. But possibilities are not like tools or habilities.
You could say "eles não têm habilidades para ganhar", but not "eles não têm possibilidades para ganhar".
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As far as my knowledge of English goes, to win = para ganhar, of winning = de ganhar. But I guess they can be interchangeable sometimes.
I tried "Eles não têm nenhumas possibilidades de ganhar" and was marked wrong. Is it that the adjectives don't have to agree with the noun? Or that nenhumas just doesn't work in this sentence. Thanks
In portuguese do not exist "nenhumas/nenhuns" only "nenhuma/nenhum" is correct and it would be right if "nenhumas" wouldn't have written
"But they have no possibilities to win" does not make sense as a sentence. Does it mean "they have no chance of winning" or does it mean "there is nothing they can possibly win?" I can't translate a sentence that doesn't mean anything
I wrote "mas eles não têm possibilidades para ganhar", and it was accepted! However Danmoller says that shouldn't have been accepted?
Duolingo never taught negative indefinite adjectives and pronouns, did it?
That is not common in Portuguese (perhaps it doesn't even exist. As a native, I can't remember anything like that).
You end up negating the verb, not the noun.
have no possibilites = não têm possibilidades
You could try "nenhuma possibilidade" (no possibilities).
Nenhuma = nem+uma = not a single one/not even one/none
But even doing so, you would still use the negation of the verb: "eles não têm nenhuma possibilitade de vencer"
Maybe a numeric workaround? Eles têm zero possibilidade de ganhar.
I thought the 'não' would come before possibilidades for the given English sentence but i was marked wrong (Mas eles têm não possibilidades de ganhar). To me the correct answer would make the English sentence 'But they don't have possibilities to win', which sounds weird.
Different languages, different word order. So far não has always been before the verb.