- Forum >
- Topic: Swahili >
- Definite/indefinite articles
Definite/indefinite articles
330
I am so in the weeds with when to include definite or indefinite articles in the translations. Sometimes they seem essential and are marked incorrect when included. Other times when they would appear to be optional, they are evidently mandatory. Also is there a way to determine when to use A/The? I can't figure out any sort of logical system. It all seems random and arbitrary. Is this a inherent flaw with the course here or am I supernaturally dense?
9 Comments
330
Yes, I do see what you mean. That makes sense and I think I can get my head around it. Thank you. The part I find really vexing is why "mattress of child" is considered a correct translation when "a child's mattress" or "the mattress of a child" are not when they are much more logical English sentences and do not imply that the mattress is actually made out of a child.
It's basically just that the course creators were rushed to finish it long before they were ready and haven't had much time to fix it up yet, so there are a lot of errors in the course and not all options have been added. Unfortunately it gets worse, the further into the course you get. You can learn a lot but you also just have to remember the idiosyncratic answers you have to give. There are very few mistakes in the Swahili - the English side is the problem.
330
Here's a maddening example of what I'm talking about: "Sharp knife" is an unacceptable translation while "a sharp knife" is correct. Three questions later: "A green pepper is also a vegetable" = wrong "Green pepper is vegetable too" =right!