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the dictionary suggests "by" as correct translation as well, and it sounds better than "along"
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I'm a native English speaker, and I'm fine with "We live along the water." To me, it calls attention to the fact that there is a whole community along the water. A google search for "Live along the water" shows I'm not alone.
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Along the water is NOT fine. Native english speaker. You cannot live ALONG anything! You can live IN, AT, BY, NEAR, UNDER, OVER, BESIDE, etc. You cannot live ALONG, Here is a fairly authoritative reference: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/along?q=along
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The sense "next to" is listed in the Oxford English Dictionary, section B3 of the entry for "along, adj.², prep., and adv.". (Sorry, can't link to it since it requires a subscription.) Oxford's free dictionary, reasonably enough, omits quite a lot of senses, and I wouldn't really consider it an authoritative reference.
Please remember that English is a widely spoken language with many variants and dialects. While this sense of "along" may not exist in your dialect of English, that doesn't necessarily imply that it's incorrect.
English's huge vocabulary often means that similar words convey shades implied or connotative meaning. Using "along" in this context as opposed to the alternatives would probably stand out, which would be a hint that there is a subtle meaning there: perhaps "we live along the water over yonder [but I'm not going to bother telling you exactly where]." Living by the Mississippi, I've heard "along" used for verbs that convey motion as well as those that don't.
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Blimey! (vernacular English word from a native English speaker) Imagine ANYONE thinking that 'We live along the water' is English! It absolutely is NOT. We live by the water, we live alongside the water', we live next to the water' are all OK. Where do Duolingo get their English 'experts' from???
Astonishing error.
I honestly can't tell whether everyone complaining is just pulling my leg...
I live along a road. My parents live along the coast. I drive home from work along a river. And I am a native English speaker. Shrug.
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What do you mean by a native English speaker. Are you from America or from England? It does make a difference.
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Believe it or not, usage varies considerably across the world. There are places where this usage is considered correct. Just because your particular dialect doesn't use it, doesn't invalidate it, in the same way that I can use the word "truck" where an English person would use "lorry" and neither of us is wrong.
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British English speaker's view: "along the water" is fine. Not that common, but as many people have said here, it connotes living somewhere along a stretch of water without giving the exact the location.
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It is colloquial and is correct, perhaps not in formal English. Ask a real estate agent.
Take your calm and happy pills. The sentence is just fine. There is nothing wrong with it.
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"beside" or "next to" would be the usual ways to say this in English. I tried "beside" and that was marked correct.
It's a literal translation. Lungo does mean long, but the translation here is "along the water". I also read in another thread from a native Italian speaker that this isn't even the way you would say it normally. They specified "vicino all'acqua" (near the water)
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So... lungo DOES mean along in spite of all the complaining from the natives, right? xD
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It does mean along, but the sentence itself makes no sense in Italian either! If someone told me "vivo lungo l'acqua" I would say "eh?" and ask what they mean. (I'm italian)
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And what would you prefer to say in Italian?
I'm not English native speaker nor Italian. Here I want to learn Italian. :-)
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my problem is also the meaning of some sentences here, I am neither Italian nor British. "vivo lungo l'acqua " have no meaning to me too. I wish she could pronounce the last word properly, or clearly.
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It seems that "along" is an acceptable equivalent in some dialects of English, but not others. The complaining is from people applying the faulty logic of "I wouldn't say this, therefore it must be wrong".
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Nioc98: "Along" is valid. I'm a native English speaker too. You're not gonna win this fight.
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"waterfront" means the promenade/coast road/harbour wall or similar implying you're the closest you can be to the lakeshore/seashore and have a view of it and relatively level access to it (i.e. you're not on top of a cliff).
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So can someone please supply a good Italian alternative if this sentence doesn't make much sense to a native? Viviamo dall'acqua...in acqua...sul'acqua? Thanks :-)
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From what I've read, Abitare is used to refer to the place you live AT, where Vivere means being alive. e.g. Io vivo = I live = I am alive Io abito = I live (at/in/near/etc.)
I got faulty when I wrote "we are living". That is strange as "we live" is the only expected in this context.
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that's because "we are living" is a different form. are utilizes a different verb than what you would use as "we live"- vivir versus essere... which is the whole point of this beginning part, to get us used to conjugating verbs in the present tense.
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What is the conversational/practical usage difference between vivere and restare? in terms of inhabiting
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My comment is that lungo means long in Italian. I guess it sort of makes sense that it also means a long??
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Does it mean water in the sense of a river or lake, not water like drinking water??
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One time lungo means "on," not "near." The next time it means "by," not "on." The inconsistencies make it difficult to figure out what the "correct" answer is!
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I think that along is a better translation of lungo as it conveys an image of living along a river rather than a beach which would be by
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It seems that "along the water" is slightly contentious in English. Is "lungo l'acqua" also contentious in Italian?
Anyone learn the 'preposition song' in school? (Native English speaker in US, hence sung to the tune of Yankee Doodle Dandy). We were told to envision a fallen log and the words used in the song described our location in relation the log.. "About, above, across, after, along, among, around, at..." And so on. I think I made my point. It is worth looking up if anyone needs it.
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27.02.16 We learn italien not english and in Italian don't gives this sentence.
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We live in Florida, so there is plenty of water to live "along." While I suppose there is nothing inherently wrong with the English translation given here , I have never heard anyone desribe living on the water in that way. We also have a summer house on a lake. But "on the water," is marked wrong, as I suppose "on the lake" would be. While "on the water" or "on the lake" might conjure up images of a house boat to a non-native English speaker, it is the way most Americans I know would describe such a nice home location. I would guess the expressions derived from "lakeside," "waterside," or similar words which dropped the endings, hence the "on" was literally a correct description.
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I wrote " We live next to the water" as the English translation, and it said it was wrong because the correct translation is "We live near the water." I thought "near" and "next to" were the same thing. Why is my translation wrong?
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I wrote next to the water. Maybe its British to say along the water but to me that sounds odd. Like a literal translation that doesn't sound right in American English. I think "by" sounds better too.
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The way I translate that sentence is, "we live along the water." However, it implies that we live along the entire length of whatever the body of water is. I have never heard the word lungo used as a substitute for next to or beside. In other words, the Italian sentence makes no sense.
Does Noi really need to be used here seeing as viviamo implies 'we as a group' in the same way that mangiamo does and mangiamo doesnt need Noi before it?
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You are correct. You can include Noi, but the verb viviamo makes it un-necessary.
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So "beside the water" and "along the water" and "near the water" are all okay, but "next to the water" isn't? Those are all pretty much interchangeable in English in this context.
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"We live on the waterfront." was rejected. Dear native speakers, wouldn't that be a valid option? Thanks a lot for your opinions. (I am neither a native Italian nor English speaker.)
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Why is it okay or needed to include "noi" when the conjugation tells us that it's "we?" So often, we're told not to include the preposition.
I would not know how to translate this to Dutch, while, as a Dutchman, I am supposed to live with a whole lot of water.
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I agree. "along the water" feels very strange to me in this context.
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I suppose it could refer to an entire community with their houses all built along the water.
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"I live along the water" is not English. "I live BY/ON the water" are possible versions.
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(Native English speaker) It is perfectly acceptable English. It may not be the most common way of expressing this sentance but it is correct.
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You could live "by the water" and not see the water according to many real estate agents, somehow you are just near the water. If you live "on the water", you might be in a houseboat. If you live "along the water", I picture your house stretched out in length facing the water. I think "along the water" is used more commonly with rivers, but I imagine that any long coastline might do.
