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- "他要茶，也要牛奶。"
"他要茶，也要牛奶。"
Translation:He wants tea as well as milk.
178 Comments
Today (12/13/17) "He wants tea and also wants milk." was marked wrong here, I reported it. This is one of those pesky sentences that probably has a lot of different valid ways of translating it so I understand why the team would be slow to cover all of these. I hope it can get fixed soon though, it's a bit frustrating for me to still get marked wrong on so many basic sentences even this early on in the course.
... 05 Aug 2020 Get over, you need to study Duolingo Chinglish as well.
Still not fixed and of 6/26/18, even though that answer was marked correct in a different section
It was accepted for me as well, not sure how it wasn't accepted for many others. (October 11, 2019)
EDIT (April 2, 2020): People don't seem to be believing me, but I entered exactly this again and it was accepted. I should probably attach a screenshot as proof...
On 23 October 2019, it is still Duolingo Chinese English... I am running off my creativity to come up with the right Chinese English sentence...
still wrong as of 07/01/19 ....maybe the staff left and we are getting managed by a computer?
Apparently the " and" is the error. I had that marked wrong many times too
I would say that it is unacceptable to Duo only in that English grammar does not usually allow two sentences to be joined by a comma, so Duo does not offer it as a solution. You need a conjunction (or a colon in some contexts). Either that or you express it as two sentences. Duo solves the problem by inserting "and" in place of the comma and dropping the repeated verb altogether to avoid repeating the subject.
Duo uses comma splices more often than not in the Chinese course--suggested answers contain them often.
Yes it seems to be perfectly OK in Mandarin, but not so in English, hence the translation issues. I tried two separate sentences but it was not accepted even though I am pretty sure it was accepted in another exercise.
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Unfortunately Duo repeats the verb 'yao' so 'wants' must be in the second phrase. To be honests it's a poor grammatical construction. It ought to be two sentences (as someone has already said here) or the two phrases separated by a semi-colon which then negates having to repeat the pronoun or the verb. Certainly, if this scenario does occur in real life, most times it would have been spoken as two sentences on the basis that the speaker momentarily fogot to mention it at the outset.
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Yes but "and also", may be acceptable but is poor grammatically. We need better grammar when this is their 'stock' correct answer.
This is kind of terrible. "He wants tea, and he also wants milk" should work too. They're two independent clauses, and they grammatically mirror the sentence. I'm kind of annoyed at some of the kinks in Duolingo's grammatical methods.
Are you sure it is an intentional rejection and not a simple oversight? Did you report it so the volunteers could consider adding it as a possibility?
Reported this variation on 5-14-19...should be correct, weird grammatically in English or not
No. You could more succinctly say "他要一杯奶茶。" 奶茶 is the term for milk tea.
American English doesn't have such a term as milk tea--possibly British????
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I think this should be accepted with just "and" with or without the "also" or "too". In any case it doesn't sound very natural in English in any of the translations.
Is this how you ask for tea with milk in it? Or does the man want tea and milk as separate drinks?
No. You could more succinctly say "他要一杯奶茶。" 奶茶 is the term for tea with milk in it. The man is saying he wants a beverage of tea, and a beaverage of milk. It can be inferred that he'll mix them but there's no context clues.
Great question. So strange to order 2 different drinks, but this is what they are literally saying.
也 means also, despite not making sense. 他要茶和牛奶 should've been written.
That depends on the English phrasing you choose. "He wants tea; also (he wants) milk" or "He wants tea, (he wants) milk too." are fine but "He wants tea milk" or "He wants tea also milk" are not. However... (This last one is almost like the 1st but with out a semicolon - because Duo disregards most punctuation, it's probably best to choose something else; in this case I'd use "and")
But what does it mean!!!!! 2 different drinks? Very strange. Forget about English semicolons & etc.
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We are here to learn Chinese, not to play games with Duolingo. They are wrong on the translation of this sentence and after at least a month have not corrected their error.
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"He wants tea as well as milk" is accepted (and also given as the translation) 02Oct2019.
This is now (2020) a suggested answer. That said, if I were being pedantic, we should really say: “He wants milk as well as tea.”
Why? Because the phrase “He wants x as well as y” implies that y is essential/original demand and x is the extra thing. (ETA: And in the Chinese 也 indicates it’s extra/also).
The problem with that is that it makes it seem like you're translating 茶 as "milk" and 牛奶 as "tea".
Don't know if it happened to someone but this was a listening exercice and I put 她 instead of 他 and it was marked wrong. I am using my keyboard and not recommended words to learn more easily but I guess we can't make the difference between the two, pronouciation speaking, can we?
can't tell difference between he and she when you hear TA so both should be correct
牛奶 specifically means cow's milk: the first character is niu2, cow; the second is nai3, which can mean milk in many different contexts. When put together they mean what English speakers generally call milk, i.e., milk from a cow.
"He wants tea also wants milk" is grammatically incorrect in English. A correct English translation as well as more accurate to the meaning might be "He wants tea as well as milk" (which I tried and was marked incorrect)
"He wants tea; he also wants milk." should be a valid answer I don't know why it is marked wrong :-/
I think you are correct. I think the problem is that Duo basically ignores punctuation, so your semicolon was probably ignored and therefore your sentence became incorrect in Duo's eyes.
For others who might be interested, here is a good article I found on how to use semicolons correctly, including the linking of two related independent clauses as in the case with your answer.
"He wants tea, milk too" should be accepted. 'and' in the translation is incorrect. Pinyin 'ye' means too, not and. If it were 'he' it would be and. Plus they use a comma, which suggests no and should be present.
NB for those of us who aren’t used to distinguishing, 奶奶 (nǎinǎi) is paternal grandmother (your father’s mother). I gather that means she’s mistress of a great house (useful when watching historical dramas). 祖母 (zǔmǔ) is the formal version (in most dialects too).
There are regional variations on how to say grandmother of course but maternal grandmother (mother’s mother) is especially diverse.
姥姥 (lǎolǎo) is more common in the north (incl 北京 and 普通话 putonghua). This one reminds me of the word for old or teacher 老.
外婆 (wàipó) is more common in the south (say, 上海). This one reminds me of old stories where the bride goes to live with her husband’s family (so she came from outside 外 that household).
And 外祖母 (wàizǔmǔ) is the formal/universal term for maternal grandmother.
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What's incorrect in this one is shown as alternate translation in another similar phrase. The inconsistency is frustrating, but I know it's all a work in progress.
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I've written many times before "
"He wants tea and also milk." Only to get marked wrong.
But this time it recommends it as the correct solution. Arrrgh!!!!!!
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Would be good to have some clarity on whether it is English style tea with milk added, or tea and milk being ordered as separate drinks. I imagine few Chinese actually drink tea with milk added like the British due to cultural and lactose intolerance reasons.
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Chinese do drink tea with milk but not like in Britain. More accurately they drink milk with tea or "milk tea": 奶茶.
Please fix the translation as mentioned below. I answered: He wants tea, he also wants milk. This should be marked as correct.
I said "He wants tea, he also wants milk." Not sure how that is different. Why is the "and" implied if a "he" isn't also implied? Would it not be 他要茶和也要牛奶
As for the additional "he" in the second half of your answer, I can see where Duo's system doesn't recognize it as correct. 他 is strictly "he", and if the original didn't have the character in the second half, the algorithm was probably likely to mark it wrong. As for the 和 you asking about: from what I understand, 和 is used to link subjects together, not verbs. So you could say 他和我要茶,也要牛奶。
He wants tea, also milk. vs He wants tea and also milk. The first sentence, despite being in proper English grammar is apparently wrong and the second is correct even though they have the exact same meanings and I just dropped the "and" in "and also".
Well, a great conversation. I have come across this compound sentence issue before in Duo. However, it needs the attention of a linguist, not a user such as me. I simply find it annoying that I have to remember a quirk of the tool. There are sufficient quirks between the languages. But I still love Duo. Great job!
What you're typing implies the translation, but it is not the translation. It's nitpicking, I know, but that is how it is.
Does he want a milk and a tea, a tea with milk in it, or tea and milk and then pour the milk in his tea...?
The (male, not female) pronunciation is wrong: The voice says "Tā yǒu chá" (他有茶).
The main usage of 也ye3 is as an ADVERB.
[To imply 'the same/as well' to a statement that have been mentioned.
我也是 (Me as well/Me, too)
他不是也告诉你了吗? (Isn't he already told you as well?)
我的袜子也很便宜 (My socks are cheap, too) {same like the shirts that I might have mentioned before this sentence} ]
[To imply 'as an addition'. 我很矮, 也很胖(I am short, and also fat/fat as well.) 他有车, 也有房{He has (a) car, as well as (a) house.} where both Adj and Obj are at the same level/group. You can't put 他有车, 也有糖果 {He has (a) car and also (some) sweets.} It's not wrong but weird as they does not go together. ]
I got this right first time so... fixed?
However the first yao sounds like you.... :/
With how much attention this sentence has received it clearly needs a revision.
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I too keep falling foul over which colloquial translation to use. Basically the problem is it is not something native english speakers are likely to say.
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也 = also
Can this be translated as "He wants tea, also milk"
I understand that there is no "and" here because 和 might be milk in tea? instead of separate beverages?
"he wants tea, but he also wants milk" is also incorrect. I only see a comma, no word for and or but or a different connector.
That's because it's not needed in Chinese, but the meaning is most clearly expressed in English with "and". 他 (he) 要 (wants) 茶 (tea)，也 (also) 要 (wants) 牛奶 (milk) - it's understood that "他" is the subject of the 2nd part so you get "He wants tea (He) also wants milk." But in English these are really two complete sentences and the 2nd "he... wants" feels redundant so most people would say "He wants tea and (also) milk". I think the "also" is a bit awkward here because we associate "tea and milk" as one individual thing. But if we use this formula for other items; "a sack of flour and also a dozen eggs" it seems just fine. So here 也 = "and". BTW Google translates 也 as "and also"
also can be omitted the fact the app does not accept it is a mistake. he wants tea and milk, English alows to omit the 'also' as there is no other way to understand it, as in the previous sentence part it was stated 'he wants tea' s it's clear that if he wants milk it's also milk and not just milk. it's petty no to accept it.
In English, the pronoun does not need to be repeated if the two clauses are separated by a conjunction like 'and'.
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Why is a second 'he' required in the English translation here when there is no second 他 in the Chinese sentence?
Isn't "he wants tea and also milk " obvious enough and more accurate as an answer? Won't take it though. In English we never say "He wants tea and he also wants milk". We actually say "he wants tea with milk"
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"He wants tea and also he wants milk"
Here we go again it won't accept that as an answer either. Ridiculous.
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Duolingo does a lot of dumb things in all the languages I've tried so far, and the "and" thing here is one of them. It's annoying as hell, but hey, it's free! If you want a Chinese course that's far less nonsensical, try Rosetta Stone, but it ain't free.
In French, if you complain too much, The Bird will threaten to bar you for life, but I think that's because one of their monitors there doesn't really speak vernacular English and is sensitive about being criticized for it.
There was no "和" so I cannot, in English, say "He wants tea AND also milk". Rather, it ought be "he wants tea, also wants milk". It may sound odd, but it's correct.
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When also is used, there is no need to repeat the verb either. "He wants tea, also milk." is perfectly correct. The very purpose of using 'also' is solely to add to the list of 'wants' in this case. I know 'and also' is used here by Duo but it is a poor grammatical construction.
"He wants tea and also milk" is the same as saying "He wants tea and milk too"
'He wants tea and also wants milk' should be correct too, although I do appreciate the various comments given. At 93 comments (& counting) Duolingo should widen the acceptance on variations.
I think the bigger issue for that office irritating is that "And also" is redundant. "and" "also" "too" "as well as"
Its like saying "He wants tea and and milk."
Not acceptable that my answer is flagged as incorrect My answer was he wants tea and also wants milk Please explain why it was flagged wron
It's poor English. You should say "He wants tea and milk too". Although, I would argue that the "and" is not specified.
However, don't get too disheartened. It's a community based system. You flag the answer as wrong and let them know why. They'll soon add a new translation if you do so. I've had about 10 suggestions accepted so far. They're pretty on the ball.
One of the accepted translations is one of the most succinct, although not completely accurate: "He wants tea and milk."
This question and its suggested answer reflects a very poor understanding of English.
Also looking at a number of comments, you either don't bother or you are not there anymore. Dated 10 May 2020 at 11:45 AM.
- As well as milk.
- Also with milk.
- With milk. All these are statements that could be used. I am learning Chinese, not English, my mother tongue.
Does this mean he wants milk in his tea or literally tea and milk or milk and tea so he can put the milk in his tea...?
I guess they must have changed it because "He wants tea and also milk" is now the "official" translation.
It is fine to say he wants milk as well as tea because milk is secondary.
I see some complaints that "he" was not accepted, my experience is now that "she" was entered and not accepted. I am correct in thinking there is no difference between 他 character for "he" and "she"?
Don't know why you got marked down! But just think of it like me (because I used to think there was no difference too!), and that 他 (he/him) has the radical 人 in it (but stylised to look like a 'T'. (You'll find that some characters look radically different (pun intended) to their Radical counterparts, such as '心' vs it's Radical counterpart, '忄'). Whereas 她 (she/her) has the '女' (woman) radical in it, and thus differentiates the two by a small, yet important difference. 他 (he/him) vs 她 (she/her).
fool you. Again. This is the answer it insisted upon: He wants tea and he also wants milk.
