"Questa stanza è usata come cucina."
Translation:This room is used as a kitchen.
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While I think I understand this, why is it in the present perfect section?
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Actually, it gets confused very often with present perfect although it's not (myself included). So maybe that's the point.
It shouldn't be. The English version is describing the present. The Italian can mean both past and present. Not a good example, although I guess I can concede that the phrasing may be similar in both languages and hence knowing the overlap can be beneficial.
How am I supposed to know that "e usata" means "is used" rather than "was used"?
It might help to know other ways you can use the participle of "usare":
- Io ho usato il libro (I have used the book = avere + participle makes it present perfect)
- Il libro è usato (The book is used = essere makes it an adjective)
- Il libro è stato usato (The book has been used = still an adjective)
"Avere" is a much more common auxiliary than "essere" for the passato prossimo.
The Italian sentence happens in the present. The room is still being used as a kitchen.
So if this is technically using a present tense verb "essere," and "usato/a" is an adjective, why is this sentence in the present perfect lesson? It's not a present perfect sentence, but a straight present tense sentence.
@crista_b, I think it's in there to help you learn to distinguish between the two, which is actually relevant. I would have thought it was present perfect whether I encountered it in this lesson or not, so now I know, and I'll certainly remember because I had to look through the comments to figure out why.
so if it's a transitive verb, taking essere as auxiliary instead of avere (while not being a reflexive verb) would make it passive?
Sure it does---just in the case here---'e usato/a. "Usare", to use, is a transitive verb. (Uso--I use, ho usato---I used). But using essere with a transitive verb converts the verb to passive form---'e usato (is used), era usato (was being used), e stato usato (was used), era stato usato (had been used). The participle (usato) now plays the role as an adjective, but it is still the participle of the verb usare.
(I can't reply directly to FidoGracie, but this is a response to his post.) We are only speaking of the auxilliary used to contruct the passato prossimo. If you look in a dictionary, when it says that usare takes avere as auxillary, that's what it means. You are correct that essere is a different kind of auxilliary in the above sentence (used to construct the passive, as you say), and, of course, in that usage, it can only take transitive verbs.
Is it possible to say "Questa stanza ha usata come cucina.", so that the room has been used as a kitchen? Or is that totally wrong?
"Questa stanza ha usato..." would mean "This room used..." so your sentence doesn't make sense (note that it would have to be usato not usata).
not sure thats right, this could mean either 'is used 'or 'was used', so maybe it depends on context..... but duo doesn't give us that!
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"Come" can mean "as a" as well. You could say "Io lavoro come dottoressa" and that would mean "I work as a doctor".
Just another usage for come, I suppose.
Is it really bad English without "a" as in "This room is used as kitchen."?
Native speakers please?
But since there is no article, why is 'the' wrong? Much more logical as most properties only have 1 kitchen and 'a' kitchen implies other rooms are used as a kitchen.
Not saying that it couldn't be seen as a correct, but by using 'the' suggests the real kitchen isn't in use or they just don't have a real kitchen. By using 'a', it suggests that the real kitchen room is still there but both rooms are used as kitchens.
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Another example of testing a point of grammar before it has actually been introduced. Clearly we have to be psychic to hang on to our hearts. I considered "is used" because the construction is familiar from studying French but I thought this section was testing the past tense!
This is a deliberate curve ball from DL: they are testing whether you can distinguish essere used as an auxiliary for passato prossimo tense and essere used for other reasons. Here it is other reasons, because usare is not in the 'house of essere' and also not a reflexive verb. See http://i.imgur.com/GNzJY9Y.jpg and http://italian.about.com/od/verbs/a/italian-verbs-auxiliary.htm.
You will see many more curve balls ahead, just as you would in real life Italian, so be prepared. My weakness is forgetting to use essere as auxiliary with reflexive verbs. ;-)
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"e usata" is not present perfect?! Why is it in the present perfect lesson? Also, in English, has been used can imply continuous, on-going use, including the present.
Why is this sentence in the present tense? We're studying past tense in this section.
This is a use of the past participle as an adverb. If you were to use the present tense, you would say, "Which room do I use (you use, he use) as a kitchen?" "Questa stanza uso come cucina." Using the present indicative of essere and the past participle provides us with the PRESENT perfect tense but in this instance, the past participle is now used as an adverb.
Other examples that you will see are, "Mio fratello è morto." My brother is dead (due to the fact that he has died). "Mio fratello muore." My brother dies.
Comments for correctness are welcome.
So this sentence is NOT in present perfect actually. Instead it is passive.
What I would like to know is, how would this sentence then actually look like in present perfect (i.e. Passato prossimo) ?
My guess: "Questa stanza è stata usata come cucina."
Can anyone confirm?
I'm gonna guess that it would "a usato" instead of "e usata". Everything else staying the same. There was another example just above with this verb where that was the form.
I keep typing ' this room is used as a kitchen'. That is the answer given but it keeps coming back in red. Why?
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I also find it strange that the passive form is in the section teaching present perfect.
No, this sentence is NOT in the past tense/present perfect. Yes, it is in the passive voice (cf "They use the room as a kitchen."). No, this is not an instance of Duolingo testing us -- it is just a mistake (and one of many).
This is confusing because it is in the passive voice and usata, although technically a verb, is used here as an adjective.