"電気をつけました。"
Translation:I turned on the light.
48 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
"I turned on the electricity" should still be an acceptable answer as "denki" translates directly to electricity. It isn't such an odd sentence to have, either, as maybe someone is talking about flipping a switch in a breaker box.
Could be just my experience but natives rarely ever use 電気 to talk about electricity the way you describe it. If I am flipping a switch in a breaker box, パワーをつけました
My teacher in Japanese in college would disagree. Shingo sensei taught denki = electricity.
thats usually they use to refer turning on the lights as you dont say to someone to turn on the electricity if there is already electricity . but yeah denki is really electricity but when they say to turn on the denki in a dark room they mean the lights
80
does this mean that "光をつけました。" is a weird and unnatural sentence?
「光」 means "lightbeam" or "ray", so it wouldn't make sense here.
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日光
Sunlight -
希望の光が見えた。
I saw a glimmer (ray) of hope.
- 2168
In the limited context of 電気をつける/けす (turn the light[s] on/off) and, intransitively, 電気がつく/つかない (the lights [/don't] go on), 電気 refers to the light(s). However, the basic meaning of 電気 is electric, electricity, or sometimes electronic, though strictly speaking the latter is 電子 (でんし, by itself, the word for electron) : 電気工 (でんきこう) electrician, 電気工学 (でんきこうがく) electrical engineering, 電気屋 ( でんきや) electric appliance store, 電気炉 (でんきろ) electric furnace, 電気製品 (でんきせいひん) electrical / electronic goods, 電気代 (でんきだい) electric utility expense, 電気回路 (でんきかいろ) electric circuit, 電気設備 (でんきせつび) electrical equipment, etc.
I knew this word meant electricity but it marked me wrong. Theb I checked the drop down menu and sure enough, it said electricity. Shouldn't I be marked right for that?
that is the literal translation, but it's pretty much always used to mean light. It is very rarely, if at all, used to actually mean electricity.
Also, lights is not correct, however there is no way to infer that there is only one light from the sentence.
I've given up on using plurals in this course unless it is explicit in the sentence. That, and always assuming the context (which we dont have) implies "I" for the topics in the sentences (even though most of them should accept many personal pronouns), will ensure you don't get marked off stupidly on these questions. Jus keep in mind the habits you build by doing that aren't necessarily helpful habits to have...
No dont give up. Keep reporting. That helps duo improve. Remember we're still in beta stage.
- 2168
In the limited context of 電気をつける/けす (turn the light[s] on/off) and, intransitively, 電気がつく/つかない (the lights [/don't] go on), 電気 refers to the light(s). However, the basic meaning of 電気 is electric, electricity, or sometimes electronic, though strictly speaking the latter is 電子 (でんし, by itself, the word for electron) : 電気工 (でんきこう) electrician, 電気工学 (でんきこうがく) electrical engineering, 電気屋 ( でんきや) electric appliance store, 電気炉 (でんきろ) electric furnace, 電気製品 (でんきせいひん) electrical / electronic goods, 電気代 (でんきだい) electric utility expense, 電気回路 (でんきかいろ) electric circuit, 電気設備 (でんきせつび) electrical equipment, etc.
The end quotation mark should go after "light". But yes, that should be accepted.
- 1546
It is implied. This is very common in Japanese - they see it as stating the obvious. If the subject isn't 私 then it will say so.
We still say that with kettles (put the kettle on), even though almost everyone uses an electric kettle nowadays (i.e. no one "puts" kettles on stoves). There's also that famous Carlos Santana song by the same name (put your lights on).
How to say "I have turned on the light"? Is it the same expression as "I turned on the light" in Japanese?
electricity is the literal translation of the word, it's just rarely used that way.
I have a question, つけて means 'turn on', so is 'turn off' つけてない or something different?
- 1480
So... This is literally "I attached the electricity?" If you're talking about completing a circuit so that the electricity flows to the lights, that makes sense.
"I have turned on the lights" was marked wrong for me, but I feel like it's correct. Does anyone have any explanation? English is my 2nd language.
- 1480
The English is correct, but I don't think it's right for the Japanese sentence. The verb tense is different. That said, you have a good grasp on English. :) Even native speakers often times don't have a conscious understanding of verb tenses. Well done, and good luck with your Japanese studies!
denki does not mean light. it means electricity. Juice, on the other hand, can mean electricity in colloquial English.
電気 is used not only for electricity but also electric lights/lamps
https://jisho.org/search/%E9%9B%BB%E6%B0%97
https://tangorin.com/words?search=%E9%9B%BB%E6%B0%97
https://www.weblio.jp/content/%E9%9B%BB%E6%B0%97
What is the difference .....turned on the lights (plural) and turned on the light (singular) Japanese????