"マリアさんも学生です。"
Translation:Maria is also a student.
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I know this is a bit of an old comment, but maybe future readers will see this… From what I've learned so far, I think you'd say it like this? Someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong:
"マリアさんは学生と先生です"
To completely break it down, マリアさん (Maria-san) is the topic of the sentence, so you mark it as such by following it up with は (pronounced "wa" when it's a particle like this rather than "ha"). Since "Maria" is a foreign name, it's written in katakana, the alphabet (technically it's called a syllabary) dedicated to foreign things.
Also, さん (san) is the standard honorific to politely address people by. Unless you're close friends with the person, excluding this is generally bad news.
学生 (がくせい gakusei) means student, と (to) generally means "and", and 先生 (せんせい sensei) means teacher. So, 学生と先生 should mean "student and teacher".
Lastly, です (desu; the U is typically silent here) is an affirmative kind of statement, along the lines of "it is". So… all together, the sentence is letting you know that Maria is both a student and a teacher, if I wrote it right.
I hope this helps! And again, someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong! I don't think I am, but I am a learner myself.
Ths sentence says maria-さん; but i didn't get an option for an honorific. It makes sense either way さん san is the basic honorific in japanese (where it is less common to not use an honorific at all), but prior an honorific option was accessible when さん was in the sentence. That's why i am a little confused.
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Since honorifics are less common in English (and are generally Mr, Mrs or Ms), I think removing the honorific in a sentence like this can be the correct translation. Normally, not having an honorific isn't rude in English, but it would be in Japanese. That's how I understand it at least.
the thing about honorifics in Japanese (like -san or -chan or (less common iirc) -sama) is that they are not the same thing as Mr./Mrs./Miss, though they are for a similar purpose - that is, showing respect.
As I understand it, even if you're familiar enough with someone to call them by their first name (even classmates will often call each other "familyname-san" if they aren't friends), it's EXTREMELY familiar to use someone's name without some kind of honorific. So if you know Maria well enough she's comfortable with you calling her by her first name, she'd be Maria-san, and then if you grow to be good friends, she could potentially be Maria-chan, and if you became best friends, you might call her Maria in some circumstances.
That's my understanding, very loosely. VERY loosely. Because of how it's different, I do wish Duo would let us translate it as "Maria-san" instead of just Maria, but whatever. if it's a first name (which in this case I'm pretty sure it is), you wouldn't need Mr/Mrs/Miss before it in the English, even though there's an honorific.
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Maria can be a family name, but i assume here it is used as a female given name.
Big inconsistency in the teaching method here. I just did a bunch of questions where Maria-san had to be translated as Mr. or Ms. Maria or it would be marked wrong, and now I'm given Maria-san with no Mr. or Ms. block available to use, and from what I'm reading here in the discussion, people who typed it in manually are being marked as wrong.
Good job Duolingo, great way to confuse and frustrate your students!
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"san" doesn't exactly have a translation in English. It's something only Japanese has. "-san" is used to show respect, like Mr./Ms. in English, but it is also said to people you don't know (well), like fellow students. Basically: it's very hard to understand for non-native Japanese speakers.
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I was under the impression the polite convention in English was to leave terms like 'san', 'monsieur', 'signora' and so on untranslated. Duo does not accept this, though.
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The /u/ in Japanese has quite often a very soft sound, especially at the end of a word/sentence. That's why 'desu' sounds like 'des' 9/10 times. For the /sensee/, I guess it depends on the speaker. Sometimes I hear the -i very well, and sometimes not.
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So も has to be placed before the adjective (in this situation)? PS: I wasn't sure if to categorize ir as a noun or an adjective, but I hope the question is clear.
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I don't know in English but in Italian the position of "also" could change the meaning of the phrase: 1) Also Maria is a student. 2) Maria is also a student.
In case 1) Maria is a student as another person object of the conversation.
In case 2) Maria is a student but at the same time is something else: a player, a worker, a daughter, ...
Since there is a も already there it isn't necessary. も replaces は to relate something to a previous statement. Since "Maria is also a student", it means that there is someone else who is a student that is not being mentioned in this specific sentence but has been earlier and is already the topic of conversation. "John is a student. Maria is a student too"