"Pili jsme jen čistou vodu."
Translation:We drank only pure water.
13 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
Since 'vypít' is not used here, wouldn't this be better (or equally well) translated as 'we were only drinking pure water'?
484
Compare:
1. We were drinking only pure water.
2. We were only drinking pure water.
Yes, both should be allowed, because many people say 2 when they mean 1. But the real meaning of 2 is that we were only drinking the water, as opposed to eating it, squirting it, splashing it, etc.
yes. We had "were drinking" but not in this particular order of words. Edited
- 480
My question is why is this "pili" instead of "vypili" because the English translation is the perfect past.
If "we drank" is like, "we drank last night," then ONLY vypili could be used, right?
Is there a nuance where if "we drank" means "we used to drink" then you can still use (or have to use) "pili" instead of "vypili"? Is that the intent if this exercise?
No, you are wrong.
vypít means to drink something completely.
Včera jsme vypili lahev vína. Yesterday, we drank a bottle of wine.
Včera jsme pili víno. Yesterday we drank (we were drinking) wine.
- 480
Ah, got it. So it's not really perfect past. Thanks for clearing up the confusion. Similarly, does sníst mean to eat something completely or complete the action of eating?
Yes, to eat something completely. To complete the action of eating is dojíst.
In my 'legend' exercise Duolingo rejected: 'We have only drunk clean water'. I do not understand why...
This particular variant was missing, I've added it now. It's always possible to find a missing variant even if there are hundreds of different accepted answered. You seem to be "lucky" in discovering the missing ones :)
Thank you for your speedy reply! I sometimes do not report what I think may be omissions amongst your accepted translation because I think that you may consider me too pedantic and/or troublesome...If I don't annoy any of you, then I don't mind continuing. Please, let me know - and all the best to you and your colleagues!
There's nothing troublesome about it. If you're sure your rejected answer is correct, just report it, no need to also write it in the discussion. If you're unsure, you're always welcome to ask in the discussion so we can talk about it. Sometimes we may be unsure as well, especially when regional difference in varieties of English are involved. In any case, don't hesitate to send a report either way -- sometimes your answer might get rejected because of a typo, it happens more often than you'd think. And if there's no report, there's no way for us to check what you entered. At any rate, thank you for informing us of (potentially) missing translations and sorry about your loss of progress to become a legend :))
The hint shows "clean" and "pure" for čisty. How can i tell which one it means? since it could mean "not dirty water" or "water, not coke/fanta/sprite/juice with water....." just from context?
Yes, it can mean both. The latter (not with coke etc.) could also be expressed by "samotnou vodu", for example.