"Mi amigo y yo tocamos un elefante."
Translation:My friend and I touched an elephant.
27 Comments
Does anyone find you keep typing elefant in english. when translating the spanish elefante lol
yes, especially since it's also "Elefant" in German :/ silly silly English language
It's "elefant" in Danish too, yet I never get it wrong in English, though sometimes I stop myself typing "ph" in Spanish!
Is this actually past-tense? If so, what makes it past-tense? I looks like present-tense to me.
It is also correct in past tense, but I don't think they should include the past tense in this answer since it has not yet been covered in the skill tree
The "--amos" ending is both present and a form of the past. Context decides (past is often "cued" by a word like ayer) and in this case it could be either past or present, IMO.
Reminds me of that story/ poem about three blind men who wanted to see an elephant.. hmmm
Why are "my friend and I touched an elephant" and "my friend and I touch and elephant" the same thing? They are different tenses, and therefore very different.
Because the word "tocamos" means "we touch" and "we touched". They might be different words in English, but they are not in Spanish, it's just something you have to get used to. You would know which word was intended by the context of it in a conversation, for a start if you are talking to this person face-to-face then you would know if they were talking about now (the elephant in the room) or in the past, also words like "ayer" (yesterday) may be in the sentence, clarifying that it was in the past.
English does similar things. Can you tell which tense I mean in "I read a book?"
Why was I not allowed to translate this as "My friend and I are touching an elephant"? It's better English.
It is a present simple sentence and it isn't present continuous. If you want to write "My friend and I are touching an elephant." your correct sentence is: "Mi amigo y yo estamos tocando un elefante." But anyway these are illustrative sentences, in the life it is better the present continuous version, I guess.
Sorry, but you are wrong. The present tense in Spanish can be used as both the present tense and the present continuous. In some usages it is required. I am leaving = Me voy, not estoy iendo.
The magic spell would not work. When the magician asks "How did you, (or how do you), cast that magic spell?" The answer is: "We touch an elephant" or "We touched an elephant".
I was correct with the sentence "My friend and I touch an elephant," as in right now and since we haven't gotten to the past tense yet,. I think It should be changed as not to cause confusion.
The thing is, over time you go back and do lessons again, after you have learnt these new things. I think that ALL correct answers should work when entered by the user, but maybe they need to be careful when choosing possible answers for multiple choice. Having said that, missing a correct answer and losing a heart when you find out that a word can mean both present and past tense, for example, seems harsh at the time, but it does teach you something, so I think it works as is.
Incorrect grammar. "My friend and I" are both the subject of the sentence. First person singular is "I" when it's the subject, and "me" when it's the object. Example: "I like you" vs "You like me".
ok, but why is "My friend and I touch an elephant" wrong (present instead of preterite)
It looks fine to me. If Duolingo didn't accept that you should report it.
Tocamos can also mean "we play" or "we played" when talking about musical instruments, not games. The hints are like a dictionary - not all meanings apply in all cases.
