"What did she do last Tuesday?"
Translation:她上个星期二做了什么？
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Same question. Past time phrase is already there. My 老师 said 了is redundant and can omit.
Why it needs “个”? "Last Tuesday" can be translated as “上星期二” instead of “上(个)星期二”...
See the KEY notes to this lesson, it seems to explain why - it's a subtley to do with past events and we are referencing last week, as i understand it.
Thank you Derick. Where do I find the key notes to lessons? So far I've struggled along on my own but now I've thankfully found the comments from fellow strugglers. But does DL offer structured help?
Before you start your lesson theres an option for notes, most/all unlocked lessons provide a pretty comprehensive explanation.
Shang ge is more nature i feel. But duolingo is not consistent on this point and allows omission elsewhere.
- The 個 can be omitted, and is elsewhere in this course.
- The date can come before the subject.
- 了 may not be needed when the time word is already in the sentence. It is an aspect marker, NOT A TENSE. In this case, the past action may not be completed, but i'm not 100% sure the rules for past questions. It should be reviewed by Chinese linguist / native.
my tame native (Taiwanese) Mandarin speaker says its ok with or without 了... but there's a slight semantic difference
I get confused between 做 and 作 which are both the same tone. Maybe that is what you mean. I don't have any secret hints for that, just practice.
This would not accept it without the "le" which contradicts the previous question which wouldn't accept it WITH "le". for almost the same construction. I don't understand the rule.
If it wouldn't accept it with the 了 then the last question you did wasn't in the past tense.
This question should accept it without the 了 though, it's optional and a little awkward and overly correct to use it in this case.
It did not ask for 个 previously on this same exact sentence! 她上星期二做了什么 (no 个) before Tuesday, but they required 个 before 'weekend' - 你上个周末做了什么？ nǐ shàng ge zhōu mò zuò le shén me ？ What did you do last weekend?
Google translates it no 个: 她上星期二做了什么？ Tā shàng xīngqí'èr zuòle shénme? Microsoft Translator no 个 : 她去年星期二做了什么？tā qù nián xīng qī èr zuò le shén me？ Knock, knock, knock... do I hear the sound of heads banging the wall or sizzle, sizzle, sizzle... is your noodle baking?
Yes, but it's sort of slang that has been used for so long it's now become official. You wouldn't read it in an formal report or hear it on the news, but in day-to-day life they're used interchangeably.
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I said 上个星期二她做了什么？and its good. Im not sure why I put when first. I guess it sounds easier to say. I new so I've no clue
If you already gave it a specific time frame, why is 了 needed at all to mark the past?
- The 個 can be omitted, and is elsewhere in this course.
- The date can come before the subject.
- 了 may not be needed when the time word is already in the sentence. It is an aspect marker, NOT A TENSE. In this case, the past action may not be completed, but i'm not 100% sure the rules for past questions. It should be reviewed by Chinese linguist / native.
昨 means "yesterday" and 上個 refers to the previous one of something, in this case the previous week.
Pimsleur teaches there are times when 了 goes at the end of the sentence…could this sentence be '…做什么了'?
can we please fix the distinction between masculine/feminine "ta" in these kids of examples?
This question should not enforce the use of 了. It's clear from 上个星期二 that the 做 has been completed, so the 了 is redundant. It should be correct with or without it.
When talking about periods of time, 上 refers to times earlier than, and 下 refers to times later than. It isn't applicable to all periods of time, though.
上午 = before noon, 下午 = after noon.
上個星期 = last week, 下個星期 = next week.
上個月 = last month, 下個月 = next month.
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I need some help figuring out the Chinese keyboard... When I want to type this sentence, sometimes it turns out like this: 她上个星期儿做了什么? I figured that this keyboard would be clever enough that I mean 星期二 instead of 星期儿, but sadly it isn't. I mean, 星期儿 doesn't make any sense anyway, right? Is this even a word? How would I go about telling the keyboard which characters I need? I see there is a floating comma thing on this keyboard, does that do anything? Can you select characters mid-sentence? Any help is much appreciated.
The answer to your question depends upon which platform you are using. The answer is different depending if you're using iOS, Android, Mac OS, Windows, etc. Further, you can either use the standard input method which comes with your platform or you can download a third party one.
It also matters what input method you are using, by that I mean 注音 (zhuyin), 拼音 (pinyin) or any of the many other input methods. Most people here probably use pinyin to type.
Personally I use 注音, and on Mac and iOS I use the built-in keyboard layout, on Windows I use a third-party one. They each have slightly different rules. For example:
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the built-in pinyin input for Mac https://chinese.yabla.com/type-chinese-characters.php?platform=mac doesn't allow you to specify tones,
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the built in zhuyin input for Mac doesn't allow you to not specify tones
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the built in zhuyin input for iOS allows you to specify tones if you want to, and not if you don't want to. Its internal dictionary also gets regularly updated with new topical terms.
Anyway, all of this is to say that you'll need to be more specific about what you're using to get helpful advice.
