"The bird eats fish."
Translation:새는 물고기를 먹습니다.
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Looks good to me. I think Duo is translating 'fish' only as the animal and not the food. I'm still a bit blurry on the exact distinction ... I think a living animal is only 물고기, but a whole dead fish could be either depending on whether it is floating belly-up in the Han (물고기) or stacked in a grocery cooler (생선). And the stuff in your sushi is only 생선. Anybody want to elaborate?
물고기 is a general term for fish and 생선 is fish that has been caught to be eaten. You can kind of compare it with pig vs pork, cow vs beef, chicken vs poultry.
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물고기, general term for fish
생선, fish which are purposely caught for human consumption.
- There is nothing to do with their state being dead or alive.
Water meat...lol Sounds funny.
Well, it certainly is, in a sense, since a lot of people eat fish and it is a form of meat when consumed. This proves that fish is considered a meat when vegetarians/vegans order food at certain Asian restaurants and the servers do not classify fish as a form of meat. I never understood that. It certainly isn't vegan or vegetarian. Pescetarian, indeed, though.
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Briefly,
(1) Noun + 은/는 --> Speaking of + Noun
새는 --> Speaking of that bird, it [...]
(2) Noun + 이/가 --> It is N which / Noun is the one
새가 --> That bird is the one which [...]
(3) Noun + 을/를: action (determined by the verb) is directed at Noun.
물고기를 먹다 --> Action: 먹다 (to eat) directed at 물고기 (fish) = eat fish.
So:
새는 물고기를 먹습니다 = Speaking of that bird, it eats fish. --> That bird eats fish.
새가 물고기를 먹습니다 = That bird is the one which eats fish --> That bird eats fish.
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Could anyone explain why the bird has a topic marker (는) and not a subject marker (가)?
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My impression is:
(1) 새는 = that bird previously mentioned/known, that kind of birds
• 는 topic tag is used for characterization. The covert implication here is: The bird (mentioned earlier) / that kind of birds eats fish ["but the other kinds have different eating behaviors".]
Note: There are a dozen types of birds with different eating habits, so 새는 cannot be translated to the generic "Birds".
(2) 새가 = that particular bird
• 가, subject marker is used for identification. A bird is singled out as the one that eats fish.
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the correction gives me an answer that is not correct; thanks, for the translation because 새 가 was listed as the subject but was not available as a choice. thanks!