"我们昨天晚上做了什么？"
Translation:What did we do last night?
138 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
Duo would be so much more helpful if we were simply given a sentence pattern to memorize, like 你昨天晚上(?)了什么 where ? can be replaced with a verb. So consider the following:
你昨天晚上（做）了什么?
What did you (do) last night?
你昨天晚上（说）了什么?
What did you (say) last night?
你昨天晚上（看）了什么?
What did you (see) last night?
1110
Making extensive notes while studying helps, I think. Seeing that writing (forming the individual characters) isn't an option doing a course like this online, I find that it is good exercise to write the characters in a notebook (and I put little frames around groupings that together mean something, with the translation noted beneath). Progress for me is very slow, but there is some, and I feel that the writing exercise also helps me to remember better....
Most definitely. I have like 3 notebooks full of notes.
The problem is (as you might know already) regularly reviewing what's written. It's soooooo, you know, tiring.
- 1110
Yup, definitely. This Chinese course is a whole different process compared to other languages I've been learning so far. It's a good thing I'm just enjoying the bits of progress realised. If I had a deadline for achieving certain results the stress would definitely kill the fun.
Why does it not accept "What did we do yesterday evening". I thought 昨天 means yesterday and 晚上 means evening？
- 2479
Why is "le" used here, when the expression "last night" makes it obviously in the past?
its a bit like saying 'last night I meet my friends' instead of saying 'last night I met my friends'. You would be able to tell the meaning from the first one, but that does not make it correct use of language.
It's indicating that the action we did is over now. The 了 here shows that an action is completed. I think it also helps to sound more natural, without it would sound more general, like "what we generally do last night". Not sure though, I'm not a native speaker.
Not sure if it is factually correct, but I like to imagine that 了 means something along the lines of 'finished' IE, it's not still happening
I does but every time i ask my Chinese friends they say not exactly because they use 了 alot in the present tense as well .
I'm so happy to be able to understand this comment! (Both the Chinese and the context.)
The Untamed and Guardian (and the novels they're based on) are a big part of why I'm trying to learn Chinese!
- 463
But we non-native English speakers sometimes do. :-) And it indicates, that we understood the chinese sentence, which would be good enough for me. :-)
Why does 晚上 wan3shang sound like wai3shang? I can clearly hear the /n/ in 昨天 zuo2tian1 though. Is this some sort of tone sandhi occuring in the middle of mulit-syllabic words?
Answering for future readers: we don't say "yesterday night" in English. Last night has the same meaning.
anyone else not preferring the new female voice. Like the dude does a great job with pronounciation. i get that we will find different speaking ways in real life but i can't understand the lady sometimes. i wish there was a voice preferance option. About last night though...
ugh why did it not accept yesterday night? although it does sound off but like 昨天 and 晚上 literally translate to yesterday and night
I'm not a native english speaker, but I guess they assume a native speak would always say "last night" instead of "yesterday night", not sure though
makes sense, duolingo has had questionable translations I've started to just accept them at this point
haha me too, sometimes it's frustrating, but don't give up because of that. And keep reporting, if you feel your answer should be accepted. Once in a while they add your suggested answer.
Can anyone tell me why "What were we doing last night" is wrong? Or why it's different to "What did we do last night" in terms of English grammar. Thanks
- 1349
Past continuous is usually used to describe an activity which was ongoing when suddenly interrupted by something else; e.g. 'What were we doing when the police showed up?' or 'We were eating dinner when the doorbell rang.' It can also be used with a specific time: 'What were we doing last night at 9.30?'
- 149
Why does it only means "last night" when 昨天 also means "yesterday". It should be "... yesterday last night..."
We just don't say it that way in English. We say "last night" to mean yesterday.
I think they should accept "What have we done last night" as well, as it has the same meaning
- 319
The answer does not accept 'yesterday night' but I believe it should interchangeably with 'last night'. As a native Australian English speaker I regularly use yesterday night when comparing between different times within the the subject of yesterday. To me yesterday night and last night are synonymous and I interchangeably pick one more for better fit with my conversational flow in that instance.
For example: "Yesterday morning I did this and yesterday night I did that" to me has a far smoother communication flow than "Yesterday morning I did this and last night I did that". I would however say 'last night' if I was only referring to the subject of something happening during the night, not when comparing to different times across all of yesterday. For example "Did you hear, last night I did this?"
I have done some research on this debate and it seems 'last night' is more common, especially it seems in American vernaculars. But 'yesterday night' is still technically correct even though to some people it has a dissonant melding of day and night. This becomes even more relevant in a modern sense of 24 hour days that begin and end at midnight. In this consideration the night is actually part of the 24 hour calendar day as is the distinct corresponding early morning period following midnight that begins it.
- 183
了 is sometimes pronounced le, liao, la? At least that's what I heard. Is it just different accents or is there a difference between them?
It appears in Chinese, one must say, yesterday - zaw tien,' and last night = zaw tien wan shang - 'yesterday evening. The same for tonight, today - jin tian and for tonight = jin tian wan shang - tonight, etc..
I learned on another app (LingoDeer) that it's also possible to shorten 昨天晚上 to 昨晚. I was told both are common and considered correct.
It appears that, zuo tian = yesterday and wang shang = evening, need to go together to form "last night". It seems the same for, jin tian = today and wang shang = evening, need to go together to form "tonight".
- 821
No, since that answer is 1) not in the form of a question, and 2) grammatically incorrect. "What did we do yesterday evening?" is the most appropriate translation of the sentence.
"What did we do yesterday night" should be accepted. I didn't write "last night" just because it literally says 昨天.
Yesterday night and last night are the same thing. Putting yesterday in with the word choices makes this confusing if yesterday night isn't accepted.
- 20
"What did we do yesterday at night?" wasn't accepted. Englis is not my first language. Is there a reason for this???
The question sounds more shocked or surprised to me in English than it does in Chinese. Like in Chinese it sounds like we went to a meeting and I can't remember what was discussed, but in English it sounds a little scandalous.
The problem might be due to the Chinese translators not realizing the myriad ways English can answer a problem; even though the answer was somewhat awkward.
The Chinese sentence literally translate as: We last night did what? it's strange that they can't remember what they did. Perhaps they all were "stoned"! Also, this might have thrown off some when translating to English!
Why the answer "What did we do yesterday evening" is not accepted here, anyone?
I wish there wee options where you only hear the audio, or only see the text., of course you can turn your volume off, and I do practice like that too a lot. I also wish I could use my mic instead of choosing a word bank answer or typing an answer... all kinds of good ways to experience the language!.
As has been explained in previous comments: we don't say "yesterday night" in English.
If he doesn't know what he did last night, how does he expect to learn chinese
yesterday evening should be an acceptable alternative to 'last night' - granted it's more formal but the meaning is the same
Considering the amount of times Duolingo accepts or downright requires phrasing that sounds incredibly awkward and unnatural in English, I think accepting "yesterday night" as well as last night shouldn't be an issue at all. Especially since the meaning is the same.
