"我三年没有来，这里的变化很大。"

Translation: I have not been here for three years, it has changed a lot.

[janette.yeung]

"I haven't come here for three years, it has changed a lot here" wasn't accepted

[duzijiayou]

Sometimes an acceptable use of a comma in Chinese is actually a comma splice in English, and thus not allowed. You'd really need two separate sentences to translate this directly. http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/commasplice.htm

[RemieSmith]

Thanks for the tip - not something Duo considers in grading though to my knowledge.

[BrendanKav1]

Same

[Karoliina765050]

'I haven't been here' would sound more natural in English.

[modernistblues]

this sentence translation is way too picky. i haven't come here in three years/for three years, things have changes a lot, etc

[ArtBurnap]

I think the problem is that the Chinese sentence needed some restructuring to be put into good English, but there are any number of ways to do this. How many versions will be accepted? I chose to try a more literal, less idiomatic English translation this time and was rejected. I should have gone with my gut feeling, which was pretty close to what they suggested.

[grippygecko]

Agreed. There are many correct translations and it's going to take some time to bring them all in. Keep hitting that flag till we do though.

[BjornNorby]

I agree with you. One has to write down the "correct" answer, until the question pops up again. And take a deep breath...

[hq4]

"I haven't been here in 3 years. It has changed a lot.

[DerekOldri]

"I have not been here in three years. It has changed a lot here" should be accepted

[Han336780]

Same, I reported that it should be correct.

[BrendanKav1]

If you are going to pose such a long sentence, you have to be prepared to accept many different variations in the translation. This sentence could be translated in so many different ways.

[hippietrail]

Yes and indeed if you are going to participate in a course which is in beta you have to be prepared to keep suggesting different correct variations. That's what we're here for.

[hippietrail]

Should also accept "I haven't been for three years. It's changed a lot here".

[mikey_dredz]

I agre. It's still not accepted 5/6/2020. I don't see how we're supposed to know that the English translation should have "here" in the first half, when the Chinese clearly has "这里" in the second half!?

[Gabrielle145359]

Question: How would the meaning change if the Chinese began 我三年没有来了 instead of the current 我三年没有来?

[Riki115]

Technically it would mean something like "I didn't come anymore in three years", but it sounds a bit weird to me. This kind of sentence is often used in the present tense, for example:

我不抽烟 "I don't smoke"，我不抽烟了 "I don't smoke anymore"

However, I'm not sure if you'll often hear 我沒抽烟了 "I didn't smoke anymore". This kind of construction also sounds somewhat weird to me, not sure if it's correct.

[tgaertig]

I'm on the android app, and it filled in the entire answer without me having to write anything, just clicked "check" and got it correct. Anyone else have this bug?

[DereckStJohn]

Yes, I had the same problem (also on Android). And it has also happened on other long sentences.

[Gabrielle145359]

It only left 4 words for me to put in the correct order. I think that is their way of dealing wirh the many possible ways to translate the first part of the sentence.

[hippietrail]

No it's their way of dealing with very long sentences where they think the words to tap on would take up more space than is available on the screen.

But it's buggy.

[alanxoc3]

I think they fixed it now. I had the same problem before.

[Meixia7]

there seems to be just a difference in a preposition

[je_suis_therese]

The question didn't have anything for me to fill in and then said I had a typo

[bjyap]

I get a typo error for a space that is unchangeable

[tyewang]

This is way too strict in terms of what is an acceptable translation. For example:

"I haven't been here in three years" vs "for three years" is oddly not accepted.

"Much has changed" vs "a lot has changed" is also not accepted.

[hippietrail]

The course is clearly marked as being in beta. We're all beta testing it. We have to keep suggesting acceptable translations that are missing. When those are finally all fixed the course will be finalized and out of beta.

[WilliamMcG588326]

In three years is perfectly OK in English

[nahoj111]

Duolingo still fills in the entire answer on the Android app. 8 March 2018

[CraigSkeel]

Duo reports a typo presumably for the space in haven't that it pre-fills, and suggests as another translation the same wording, just without the space and added punctuation. Reporting.

[Julia-Tang]

why this sentence is unaccepted: "i have not been here for three years, this place has changed so much"

[Gabrielle145359]

You need a period (or perhaps a semicolon) instead of your comma. Otherwise, your sentence is fine. Report it!

[hippietrail]

Duolingo actually ignores punctuation though. There must be something else.

[ASZ18101849]

Duolingo is rather restrictive about translations for this sentence. It insists on "a lot" as well as "come". In this case the issue might be the "been" part, because 来 translates to "come". However, I think "been" sounds more natural, it's just that the translation is not as close. On the other hand, I have reported sentences with "been" instead of "come".

[Elijah.Fung]

后半句我可以用there be句型吗？there are a lot of changes here

[BjornNorby]

Oh! I made a typo, there instead of three. Lost one heart, try again...

[Deftab]

I first tried "I have not been for three years, a lot has changed here", which seems slightly closer to what the Chinese says, but it was considered wrong? What am I missing?

[Extralime]

You can't say "been" without any places. You could try "I have not been here for three years, a lot has changed here." or "I have not been here for three years, a lot has changed."

[MsAWhit]

In the three years that I've been gone, the changes here have been great.

[duzijiayou]

No room for poetic license here. :)

[Ivy142435]

Haven't is spelled incorrectly.

[hippietrail]

Seems to be fixed now.

[mslee3]

The issue seems to be it/for. In this case (for American English), using either "it" or "for" in the phrase "I haven't been here for three years" would be valid.

[joe56472]

The weird thing with the n't

[Matthew528537]

Should also accept "I haven't come here for three years"

[Nevin711542]

2nd 'here' is not needed since it is already referred to.

[hUcv9]

選択できる言葉にcomeがない。

[31312stu]

it would be better in 我三年没有来「这里了」

[Ramy184050]

Reaching out to Chinese native: How would you say: i did not come for three years. It has changed a lot

Thanks in advance...

[IanMcFarla17]

My question is, if a translator saw the English sentence, I have not been here for three years, it has changed a lot,' is this really the Chinese sentence they would most naturally produce?

[ChromateX]

What's with the 的 in the sentence?

[ArtBurnap]

The 的 turns 这里 into an adjectival modifier of 变化. In standard English we can't use 'here' as an adjective in the usual pre-noun, attributive position (though some dialects allow combinations with this / these, such as 'this here book'), but we can use it in the post-noun, postpositive position: the change(s) here. So in the Chinese version, the word 'here' actually appears overtly only in the second clause, modifying change(s), not in the first, although it is implied there, to give a destination to 'come'. However, I think the content creators here would argue that not to give 'come' an explicit destination in English would seem less natural, making 'here' in the second clause redundant.

[E.N.J.A.]

if 变化 works like a verb here, why is there no 得?

[Riki115]

变化 is only a noun, it can't be a verb. Although, I have to say the English translation might be confusing, a literal translation would be "The change of here is big"

[Extralime]

"its changed" is English?

[Eoin790683]

A very poorly structured exercise / translation! Still not fixed 2 years on :(

[noahigh]

ahaha