"おさらとコップとスプーンがあります。"
Translation:There is a plate, cup, and spoon.
50 Comments
Yes, did you report it? I don't know qbout other varietiee of English but when you have a list like this...number, tense etc MUST MATCH all the way across the list. If A and B have an indefinite article, C needs one too!
Exactly. One indefinite article would have worked ("There is a plate, cup, and spoon.") Or three ("There is a cup, a plate, and a spoon.") But NEVER two.
Maybe because あります is almost never written in kanji; it's usually written in kana alone.
"There is" is the correct English translation for this sort of listing sentence using the definite article. "There are" would be appropriate if you are using the plural form of the items listed e.g. There are plates, cups, and spoons. Or a mixed list beginning with a plural e.g. There are plates, a cup, and a spoon. So there has to be plurals in used at the beginning of the list in order to use "are" in the sentence.
interestingly as Japanese doesn't do plural it's possible we are talking about cups, plates and spoons? The sentence makes more sense that way, to be honest.
if that is supposed to be an argument for using "are" instead of 'is" allow me to remind you your own words: 'Japanese doesn't do plural...'
:D
I reported this also. "There is X, Y, and Z" is common enough that it's not wrong, but if you're being grammatically picky you should say "there are..." when there are three objects.
868
I'm pretty certain "there are a plate" is never grammatically correct in English, no matter what might happen to follow after it.
Seems quite a few people have reported "there are" for this sentence. I'm not sure whether any of the course contributors are native English speakers. I hope this doesn't eventually get added somehow at some point. ^^;
You shouldn't use "are" unless the items are pluralized.
There is a car, a truck, and a motorcycle in my garage.
There are cars, trucks, and motorcycles in my garage.
Even if only one of each item is in the garage, you can still say the sentence in plurality and be considered correct as the collection of items are multiple and vary over time.
Is it really "is" instead of "are"? English is not my native language, but it sounds strange to me.
Yes, due to plate (being the first word of items) is singular. Now if there were PLATES (ie. more than one), then it would be "There are plates, a cup and a fork."
"There is a" is a valid sentence when you're making a list of singular objects. "There are" would be correct if there were multiple items.
An easy way to remember this is applying the "There is a" section to every object in the list. "There is a plate/cup/spoon" all make sense individually. "There are plate/cup/spoon" doesn't, so "are" would be incorrect.
But that's all really nitpicky. I have seen DuoLingo accept sentences with grammar that is far worse, so I'm suprised that it doesnt accept "are" here.
Duolingo please fix the phrase in English: "A plate, a cup and a spoon" Thank you.
I thank martin.mk for the correction he made to your sentence, but regrettably, he provided no reasoning as to why. In general, whether the plural or singular existential form is used is dependent on the first element of a list in English. In this case, the first element is 'a plate', which is countable and singular, so 'there is' is generally accepted as correct English. The singular form also applies to situations where the first element is uncountable: "There is blood, bodies and destroyed vehicles everywhere!". The plural form is used when the first element is plural: "There are two apples, an orange and a bunch of bananas in the fruit bowl.". The rules can vary from region to region for collective nouns like 'people', in which case, both 'there is' and 'there are' could be acceptable. However, please do note, that, colloquially, the singular form is often used for cases where the first element is plural (but not the other way around).
Elsewhere in duolingo: あります can be: 'have': 傘(かさ)があります: I have an umbrella ひまがあります: I have time But it's not accepted here for: I have a plate etc Reported
- 91
コップ is: glass (drinking vessel); drinking glass, tumbler cup is: カップ. Please correct that, it's confusing.
There is a plate, cup, and spoon(s). How is it indicated in the sentence that spoons is plural? I'm confused.
It doesn't, Japanese generally doesn't make a grammatical difference between singular and plural. Without context, it can be either.
So と is mandatory when you're splitting up each article of the object? Like if I were to add more utensils each will still be split up by と？
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"There is a dish, a spoon and a cup." is incorrect? The order doesn't matter in other phrases. Plate and dish are the same thing.
- 1007
you are tested on your reading, your vocabulary, your understanding of a sentence structure. if you change the order, you are obviously wrong. let's just say you are pointing the objects while mentioning them, you would so inaccurate.
おさら is plate ? So not a bowl aka dish Dishes should be accepted though Its an all inclusive for plates & bowls
- 835
Is there a specific reason why "there is a plate and a cup and a spoon" is not accepted?
