YES IT SHOULD

Actually, while learning English (in Europe, it's a mandatory subject) the teacher told us: "if you cannot count something in units, then it's proceeded by some". In this case, you can't say "one rice, two rices" so it should have some before. It happens the same way with most liquids ("one water, two water..."). Of course, you can say "one glass of water", but you can count glasses.

You could interpretate it like that. Beacause literaly it says rice, please. ください Doesnt mean please, its a polite way of requesting something

Rice please? Also works

I also did that!

I agree with you, and Duo probably just didn't come up with all the possible ways people would answer this question.

That said though, as you pointed out, "could" is slightly more polite/formal, and there are definitely more polite ways to phrase requests in Japanese. However, prescribing how to match the different levels in politeness between English and Japanese is a difficult task, so Duo should just accept "could" too f(^_^;

I agree that the recorded voice reads "wo." In addition, if you listen carefully to words containing は (in cases where the correct pronunciation is "ha"), you will find the occasional mispronounciation "wa."

My theory is that the pronunciation is determined automatically by the app/web app and that it is necessary to enter the correct exceptions manually.

While I agree with JosuaLore9 that the pronunciation among Japanese speakers plausibly varies, I don't think the inconsistency is intentional.

Came to the comments for this question as well. Best answer I could find while searching the internet is the "w" is pronounced in this case because "を" is preceded by "ん", and saying "wo" helps to differentiate from saying "の" without having to take a pause after "ん". Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

I hear the "wo" pronunciation as well, but I think it's correct, not a bug/glitch.

I could be wrong here, but I believe Japanese speakers will tell you that お and を are pronounced differently. I think how strongly the "w" sound is pronounced varies regionally, as well as by person, but the reason it's taught as "o" to English speakers is that most people will tend to pronounce it with a hard "w" when the Japanese "w" is much softer.

The English translation is a question, but the original Japanese sentence is not a question, it's more of a request, I suppose.

An English example would be going into a restaurant, and when you order, there are a few different ways of ordering. We'll look at two different ones.

"Can I get some rice?" or "Rice, please."

Now, I realize that the translation given is actually "Can I get some rice?", but I would say that ごはんをください would actually translate better to the second one, "Rice, please." It's not exactly a demand, but it's certainly not a question. Maybe a polite demand, an order, a request.

So you're correct in your observation that it would translate to "rice please".

Kudasai is a polite way to request something, it does not mean please.

I think "か" is basically used to help separate questions from statements. Most questions I see that have "か" at the end would be a statement without it.

The presence of "some" makes the whole statement different, albeit slightly.

は (wa) is to mean that the previous word is the main subject or topic.

を (o) is to denote that previous word is the direct object, the receiver of the verb.

It must be を(o) because it marks the object of the request. In this case, that's the rice--the thing being requested.

Technically, yes you could translate this sentence as "Can I have a meal" in very particular circumstances, but in the large majority of situations it would be used, it should be translated as "Can I have some rice".

That's because ごはん refers to "a meal" mainly when it is used colloquially (e.g. ごはんまだ？), or as a suffix (e.g. 朝ごはん)

"ご" is the honorific suffix. The honorific suffix お (which can be written in kanji as 御) is also pronounced as ご in certain contexts, i.e. typically in front of Chinese-derived words. 御飯 (ごはん) comes from the Chinese word for rice, 飯 fàn, so the honorific is pronounced ご. *Note: there are a few exceptions to this rule, but it holds true for the most part.

Personally I think "get rice" is kind of a crude way of speaking and very impolite.

-edit /Technically it is correct. Later on in the lessons you will see it more often. / - end

It might be acceptable as a translation if the pitch intonation of the Japanese was spoken without a polite effort, like a mumble. But that veers away from the purpose of the lesson. Keep in mind too that in Japan, politeness is more important than in many Western cultures. Lacking politeness is considered a form of rudeness and if done consistently will sometimes provoke a sharp argument. If you want to make friends, make sure you have this down.

Yes, it's acceptable, but the use of ください makes the phrase slightly formal.

Informal versions of this statement include ごはんちょうだい and ごはんくれる？

It's kind of neat that there's a little 食 in 飯

Huhhh?

I think that's just a Duolingo thing. Often times, Duolingo will "correct" you when you're actually not wrong. This is largely due to the site learning the language better as the course matures.

This is most likely an oversight on the part of the course developers; flag it for them to fix :)

Personally, I think "I'd like ~" is a better translation of ～をください than "can I get ~?", but I don't think one is "more correct" than the other.

I don't think you made a mistake, but explicitly adding the わたし (私) は at the beginning serves more to emphasize that it is you who would like some rice (as opposed to a person next to you, say). This is due to the highly context-sensitive nature of spoken Japanese. Anything that is implied from context should be dropped, especially when it comes to explicitly naming a person (i.e., using わたし or あなた).

As a native English & German speaker, I'm sorry to say I'm not fully familiar with this. I've just heard this fact emphasized from so many different places that it has to be true.

Yes, it can, but ごはん refers to "a meal" mainly when it is used colloquially (e.g. ごはんまだ？), or as a suffix (e.g. 朝ごはん). The majority of the time, it means "(cooked) rice".

This course is still in Beta; things like this should be flagged/reported, not just commented on because the course developers don't necessarily read these comments.

This is most likely an oversight on the part of the course developers; flag it for them to fix :)

Personally, I think "I'd like ~" is a better translation of ～をください than "give me ~ please?", but I don't think one is "more correct" than the other.

This is most likely an oversight on the part of the course developers; flag it for them to fix :)

Personally, I think "I'd like ~" is a better translation of ～をください than "could I get ~?", but I don't think one is "more correct" than the other.

"Rice on please"? As in, "please continue to rice"? That doesn't make sense in English, let alone as a Japanese translation.

It depends on context, there are rules but a lot of exception

Kajin mix cannot separate, if you separate it can pronounced different sound and meaning

Duo accepted "Can I get rice". I agree with you about "some" being an inaccurate translation, although it can be used in english when you aren't specifying how much you want. July 31, 2017.

ごはん means both "steamed rice" and "meal". For example, when asks steamed rice after finishing main dish, he/she will say "ごはんをください". Obviously, in this occasion, he/she is not asking a meal.

It's more of a statement, a polite request for someone to give you something.

As an aside, I think using "the" as you did should be considered correct. Hopefully someone can corroborate that.

This sentence is actually exactly how you could ask for rice in a Japanese shop/restaurant.

Also, it is, as you say, a perfectly polite way to ask for rice, but it is by no means the most polite way. ください is essentially an imperative verb form, so the implication of using it is that you are entitled to the rice and politely insisting on receiving what you are entitled. This is completely appropriate in a restaurant where you, as the customer, are in a higher social position than the waiter, but in other situations, like business negotiations (?) for example, there are more appropriate ways to ask for rice in Japanese.

@mommarigo answered this previously:

「ください isn't really a question. It's a polite way of saying, "Give that to me" or "go do that". It's translated to "Can I please have some rice?" because in English, "Give me rice." isn't at all polite, and the politeness factor is important.」

Umm, none of those appear in this question...

Also, the kanji for これ, それ, and あれ are rarely ever used in any context in modern Japanese.

They are generally called "particles", and each one has one or more specific grammatical functions. They always come after to word or phrase they modify. There's more information here, though these aren't all the particles.

If you want to learn more, I suggest Googling and discovering them for yourself.

"Can I have rice" is a correct way to translate this sentence, but not the only correct way.

Neither is "more natural"; they're largely interchangeable and it depends on the context they're used in, mostly because of a slight difference in politeness.

ください isn't really a question. It's a polite way of saying, "Give that to me" or "go do that". It's translated to "Can I please have some rice?" because in English, "Give me rice." isn't at all polite, and the politeness factor is important.

This is true, but ください isn't really considered casual speech, and in any case, it never takes the particle か because it's a specific conjugation for requests.