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- "a loaf of bread"
"a loaf of bread"
Translation:o pâine
30 Comments
Here's my thought. In this case the "o" just serves to make it "a loaf of bread" rather than just "loaf of bread". The fact that it's "loaf" is just informal. In english, when we say garlic, we usually are referring to a clove of garlic. In this case, when they say "paine", you could translate it either as the general term "bread", or in context assume they are talking about "a loaf of bread". It all depends on when it's used.
681
I cannot attest for Romanian, but other Romance languages don't necessarily use the loaf-equivalent word. In Brazilian Portuguese, depending on where you are, um pão ou um pãozinho is a roll of bread eaten everyday.
pâine is the substance ... o is the totality of it. exemplu ...crumbs are pâine, bits of pâine but they are made of pâine none the less...but crumbs are not "a"pâine. I would not say go to the magazin and buy a piece of bread I would say buy - a bread - it sounds a bit funny when I say it in english because we do not use and indefinite article in this case...In english we just say ---buy bread.
Sorry, but wasn't I told over and over again that "loaf of bread" was an alternative translation of pâinea; the bread?!
Is it not accepted just because of the article "a" required here?
Does the person who made this exercise understand the subtle difference between challenging the student ...and trolling them?
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You have to remember that the definite article is enclitic in Romanian, i.e., it is placed at the end of the noun and becomes part of that noun. In this case:
(o) pâine = (a) loaf of bread
pâinea = the loaf of bread
Selecting the wrong article (definite vs. indefinite) counts as a mistake in all the Duo language classes I take.