"Is he not a boy?"
Translation:On není chlapec?
21 Comments
If the English sentence emphasizes the fact that we are asking about a boy, e.g "Is HE not a boy?" instead of softer "Isn't he a boy?", you should use "On není chlapec?"
1003
But if you're not emphasising "is HE...", is it not the case that you don't need to use "on"? If so "Není chlapec" should surely be marked as a correct answer?
If you are not emphasizing, then "Není chlapec?" would be correct. But this sentence is emphasizing it.
You can perfectly say in Cz "Není chlapec?" and mean "Is he not a boy?". Czech people seldom use on or ona, only if they emphasize it. If that is the case here, you cannot know from the written language.
Please, duolingo, stay out of these controversies. I want to advance in this course because my Czech language level is already moderate and i am stuck here because of these discussions. Není to žadna legrace!
Striktně vzato je to substandardní, případně polonizmus. Ale pro cizince asi jakz takz OK.
It sounds a bit unnatural, or a polonism, but I would accept that from the mouth of a foreigner.
No. Není is the negative form of je. But kluk is accepted in place of chlapec. As in, for example, "On není kluk?"
if i were to ask, "is he a boy?" can I say, "Je kluk?" or is that missing a preposition?
