"他们在超市买东西。"
Translation:They are buying something at the supermarket.
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We have already translated "买东西" as "shopping." "Shopping" should be acceptable in place of "buying things" here.
I agree that should be the answer since they are 在超市, at the supermarket, not 在买东西, in the process of buying something/shopping.
I've got same bloody results. DUO IS NOT AS SMART AS THE MOST SIMPLE AI. DUOLINGO IS DUMDER AND DUMDER...
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I have a different opinion. You can be right in certain context.
Most likely, we say this when those people are currently shopping in the supermarket. But we can also say this to talk about where they usually go for their grocery.
A: 他們通常在哪裡買東西?
Where do they usually go for buying things.
B: 他們在超市買東西。
They go to the supermarket for buying things.
A: 你呢？
How about you?
B: 我不在超市買東西。我都去這邊的小店。
I don't go to supermarket for buying things. I would go to the small shops around here.
(The translation is for better understanding only, not good English.)
To indicate more precisely they are buying things now, we can say:
他們正在超市裡買東西。
The character Zai implies they are currently at the supermarket, so it's not just something that they have been known to do
Yes but no, it reads that they are at the supermarket... Chinese is that confusing, you can be right as much as you can be wrong... And there are so many Chinese languages within China that it can be quite confusing among themselves as well... Believe it or not... Here we are fighting for a reasonably acceptable and Duolingo seems to have a hard time digesting all suggested answer.. They really have to employ more people.... Create jobs.... Could be a very positive option.
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It doesn't accept, "They are at the supermarket shopping." Seriously. If you insist on free text, then accept legitimate answers.
"They shop in the supermarket." is marked wrong. 10.03.20. And why is it "are shopping" when 在 is connected to 超市 and not to 买东西?
How did we figure out if they are currently doing it, i.e. "They are buying" instead of "They buy"?
In the U.S., grocery store and supermarket are often used interchangeably.
The characters used (超市) are the abbreviation for 'supermarket'. I looked up 'grocery store', the characters are '杂货店' (zá huò diàn) (mixed products shop). So you can say 'grocery store' and still be correct. Since they used the specific characters for 'supermarket', that is what they will expect.
"they are buying somthing at the supermarket" Seriously?!? That doesn't count as a typo????
'shopping' is the first option given in the drop-down hints. 05/07/2020
November 13 2020: They are shopping at the supermarket is not an accepted answer.
"They are at the supermarket to buy things." should be accepted, I think. There's nothing here to signify progressive, "-ing" tense.
When you put the cursor over 'dong', it show the last three characters to mean 'shopping'. So 'shopping' should be accepted. Also I would like to see the characters displayed a little larger.
What is really frustrating is that the lessons offer practically NO help before you start taking the "test". I don't like the "hit-or-miss" approach. I can sense that it is not about actual translation but how a Chinese person would say something, versus an English translation verbatim, but how about some instruction beforehand!
Don't the tips they offer help? But I do know the problem of the many ways of expressing the same or similar things when translating into English. It would be impossible to cover all of them. I'm OK with accepting their answers even if they don't accept mine, unless their English is actually wrong. At least I can assess it according to my own use of English and feel I've learnt something. I make sure I get their version of right next time!!! Often it's a problem of American versus English or all the other versions of the language. And that helps make it all interesting.
Since they are buying some things, would it be sensible to put 'zai' twice in the sentence? One for the location, one for the ongoing aspect.
"They will buy stuff/things at the supermarket" should be acceptable.
something isnt even in the chinese sentence, shouldn't it be "They are buying at the supermarket." Then or am I missing soemthing?
They are at the supermarket buying something was marked wrong. I wonder why
"They are shopping for something at the supermarket" should be a perfectly acceptable answer
Sep 15, "They are at the supermarket shopping" is still rejected so I'm reporting it since no one has indicated it should be incorrect.
"They shop at the supermarket" is rejected 2022 / 3 / 16. Is mai dong xi not to shop?
What is wrong with saying "they are at the supermarket shopping"? I thought 买东西 meant "shopping", right? 我们去买东西吧 means "lets go shopping".
That would be "They are at the supermarket for shopping." I feel duolingo is too sensitive to the language based on.
It should be "They are buying things at the supermarket." not "They are buying something at the supermarket."
There were "超市” and "超" “市” separate so I put it separately and it was wrong even though I used the same words?
I think Duo needs to accept either entry. The characters are like syllables. In this case the two syllables 超 and 市 are used together to form a word -supermarket. So, think believe they want you to select the two syllable choice to show your understanding.
Things = groceries. So why am I marked wrong and loose a ♡ when I say 'groceries'?
Just for the record. Duolingo rarely ever marks answers based on punctuation. So no, they aren't demanding it.