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- "O plăcintă nu are unt."
29 Comments
724
I do not remember seeing margarine in Mega Image, only butter. But it's been 2 years and obviously I wasn't looking for margarine, and could be misremembering.
In any case my real point is that in stores like Mega Mmage, there is a wide variety of butter available, even unt de oiae (goat butter). That suggests that butter is widely used.
- 1967
It sounds very odd. I have seen that use of the contraction in eighteenth century English, but nobody would say it today.
- 1436
I say it! ... but then I am nobody.
Others use it too, e.g. "He hasn't got a clue!": "He hasn't reached his potential." etc.
But in your examples, “have“ does not serve as the main verb; it’s an auxiliary and more prone to contraction.
- 1967
Would you use it with a direct object? Would you say "He hasn't a clue" or "They haven't jobs"?
- 1436
"He hasn't a clue" is commonly used in England. "They haven't jobs" is also used, but "They haven't work" is probably more common.
- 1967
That is useful to know, then, and the translation should stand as it is. I have not heard that form on British television or read it in British literature more recent than the beginning of the last century, but as an American, I have little direct access to colloquial UK English. That is one of the little joys of these fora.
True, it sounds like ”nuarunt”. I have reported it. Hopefully, more people will do this and moderators will finally notice.
'O plăcintă n-are unt' - este si el corect, si n-ar trebui sa fie incorrect pe Duolingo
It's hard to get used to o meaning a when I've been learning Portuguese for years where o means the. These darn Romance languages!
- 1712
I have also studied Portuguese for years and I can see the syntax in Romanian is quiet different for definite articles. I think this isn't the problem but a good help (in this example it's necessary to think that the definite article doesn't has the same place as in Portuguese). A good problem to solve for me is the use of specific rules for articles for different nouns and the use of cases in a sentence. Good luck! ;)
- 1967
I think what Passionfruit is getting confused by is not the syntax at all, but the fact that the Romanian feminine indefinite article is the same as the Portuguese masculine definite article. I keep making the same mistake.
- 1712
Yes, I think the same. So... it is important to think in the syntax and the genre firstly in Romanian, and then in the semantic form. :)
Same thing for me! Portuguese is my native language and hence it is quite difficult for me to just disconnect from it. Nevertheless, I always try to fit the language I'm learning within a certain cultural identity. It's complicated at first and a bit delusional, I guess, if you put a lot of stereotypes into it. Anyways, I'm sort of personifying Romanian into someone (That's not the word I'm looking for, but let's go with it) I have yet to know. It is like Portuguese is this old friend and Romanian (and a few other languages I have just started learning) is this new, cool person you want to be friends with. This may sound a bit crazy, but it works for me and is keeping me sane (until now) while learning multiple (although not that many) languages at once. The best of luck for you, mate
