"Locuința lui are acoperișul roșu și garaj."
Translation:His dwelling has a red roof and a garage.
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Why ”acoperișul”? Shouldn't it translate as ”the red roof”? And furthermore, why doesn't ”garaj” also have a definite article if acoperiș has one?
You can also say:
Locuința lui are (un) acoperiș roșu și (un) garaj.
Basically, we can use the definite article to indicate possession:
Close your eyes! - Închide ochii!
She's got a broken nose. - Ea are nasul spart.
He's got a phone with a broken screen. - El are un telefon cu ecranul spart.
If it's any clearer, you can translate it as "he's got a phone with its screen broken".
In English, saying "his dwelling has the red roof" suggests that there are some known roofs and the speaker makes a connection between "his dwelling" and one of them. Translated into Romanian, there'd be no difference in form between the two sentences; the distinction is based on context, but the most intuitive interpretation is the one in which the definite article represents possession.
That is interesting! But why not garajul also then? Articles are indeed used very differently in Romanian compared to the other languages I know or have studied! (Swedish, English, German, French)
Because a dwelling by definition has a roof, only one roof, and it is qualified here with an adjective.
Transcribing the audio. Pretty sure that while on the slow audio acoperisul is used, on the fast audio acoperisurile is spoken.
1088
I hear no “acoperișurile” but I can hear an “e” between “acoperișul” and “roșu”, like “acoperișul e roșu.” Could be a technical problem with the TTS system. Maybe it is not good at pronouncing the combination l+r.
- 1289
In the fast mode the Duolingo voice makes lots of mistakes, as I'm sure you've noticed. What you're describing is one of them.
We really would not use the word dwelling in a sentence like this. Place, or house.
- 1014
Why translating "lucuința lui" to "his face" gets an error? This is how you say this in English! No one says "his dwelling" in normal every day conversation.
- 1088
In such cases you can edit your own posting instead of replying to yourself (twice). Unfortunately it does not work in the mobile app.
