"我们晚上九点吃饭吗？"
Translation:Do we eat at 9 in the evening?
57 Comments
My translation was "Do we eat dinner at 9:00 pm?" and it was marked incorrect, even though 9 in the evening is the same as 9:00 pm. Shouldn't my answer be marked as correct?
752
I said the same thing. One would certainly think or could even argue that it should be dinner given the time, but they don't mention dinner specifically, just 吃饭.
But in other question they said "another translation: eat dinner", but it was also 吃饭。
Same for me. This one particular lesson is one of the most poorly programmed ones I've ever seen on Duolingo.
- 752
There's no mention of today or any other specific day, just 9 in the evening.
- 450
I agree. For my comment, I was referring to "do we eat" vs "are we eating". Are we eating seems to get marked wrong, but I think both are valid translations.
- 752
The question of 'do we eat' versus 'are we eating' may be related to the question of which expressions are used in both languages to talk about a repeated schedule versus a one time event. For English, I think it could be argued that either can work for both, though I might be more inclined to use 'do ...' for repeated events. Do we eat (/are we eating) at 9 pm (tonight / every night [during our trip])?
There's nothing explicit in the Chinese sentence to help us pin it down to a specific day, but I am by no means certain that's excluded. Has anyone tried 'Will we eat ...'? If that's acceptable, then so should 'Are we eating' be, because the present progressive is a common alternative way to speak of the future.
- 450
I'm not 100% sure that we're right, but I'm going to go out on a limb and report it.
i'd say "should we eat dinner at 9pm" would be "我们晚上九点吃饭吧？ " as it is a suggestion rather than a question. with 吗 you'd better translate with "do we eat".
Hi, "Do we eat at 9pm?" was marked wrong because there was no space between "9" and "pm" (correct answer: "9 pm"). Shouldn't both forms be acceptable? Thank you!
The Chinese is more "open" here; it could be "this evening" but could also be some other evening (maybe a dinner party next week and he's confirming the time) If you wanted to specify "this evening / tonight" it would be: 今晚 or 今天晚上
"Do we eat dinner at 9 in the evening?" was marked wrong. A meal at 9pm is called dinner, no? Or can 吃饭 also mean "snack"
I don't understand why sometimes 吃饭 is: eat / eat dinner / eat rice And those are not interchangeable and considered wrong - if, for example, I answer "eat" instead of "eat dinner". Can somebody explain?
Eat dinner is 吃晚饭. As for 吃饭, people hardly mean eating rice, so just assume that it is just generally eating a meal, not just rice.
晚上 is the word for night in Chinese. 9:00 in the evening would be 我們下午9點吃飯嗎？
Why is "dinner" stressed in the first sentence and not in the second?
"我晚上七点吃饭。 I eat dinner at 7 in the evening.
"我们晚上九点吃饭吗？" Do we eat at 9 in the evening?
The Chinese sentence doesn't indicate THIS evening, only 9:00pm/in the evening.
I think translating times that are specifically stated to be in afternoon or evening, into military time, should be accepted.
- 174
Actually it was "Do we eat rice at 9:00 in the evening" that was marked wrong. I know it can mean just eat, but in other exercises either is accepted.
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my born and raised in china mother said "are we eating at 9 pm" is an acceptable answer
I answered "Do we have a dinner at 9pm tonight?" And it should be correct answer too!
- 40
"Do we eat at 9 in the evening?" is correct, but given that there isn't any context on whether it's in the future, now, or in the past, all those should be accepted. However "Will we dinner at nine tonight?" wasn't accepted.
- 52
Currently, the "correct" answer indicates "Do we eat at 9 in the evening?", but rejected "Do we eat in the evening at 9?". I would suggest there is no plausible reason for the English translation to be this rigid, even though the former is more frequently used. I would suggest Duo add a category of correct but not preferred if the want to communicate such.
- 52
To follow up, in English the later translation is useful for adding some emphasis in the specific time where the evening part might be generally understood but included as part of polite form. Certainly, it would never be "wrong"
I wrote "Do we eat dinner at 9 in the evening" Seems "dinner" is acceptable in other sentences but not in this one.... should fix this
"Do we eat at 9'o clock in the evening?" Should have been marked wrong because 9:00 pm is nighttime
I think you missed the op's point here. '9 in the evening' is rather clumsy wording, and means exactly the same as '9 tonight' or '9 pm'. Yet the only accepted 'correct' answer uses the most inelegant form of English possible.
