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- Topic: Spanish >
- "Disculpa, Ana, ¿me ayudas?"
63 Comments
Me too. Grrr. I wanted to report it, but it didn't have an appropriate choice (like "my answer should have been correct". Grrr.
Me too - annoying because there's nothing wrong with Anna. Another example of names in Duolingo causing problems
It shouldn't be. It's disculpe for people you address as usted and disculpa for people you address as tú. The hint here is that Ana is referred to by her given name and asked for help with the tú-form "ayudas".
To use disculpe, it would be something like:
Disculpe, señora de Armas, ¿me ayuda?
why is this in the indicative mode and not subjunctive? Thanks! Answers appreciated.
1040
I think you might also mean " . . . will you . . . ?" and ". . . would you . . . ?". Reported that "Excuse me, Ana, will you help me?" also should be accepted, 16 Feb 2019.
- 1147
Yes, it can also mean another way. It's just that in Spanish, requests can be asked this way.
- 490
Yes, but it irritates me because strictly speaking it is not grammatically correct English to use "can" there. I know it's common usage, but it's still wrong. Will or Would are better, so it's annoying that Duo are insisting on Can.
- 1147
What do you mean by "not grammatically correct English"? It's perfectly grammatical English.
Once more the audio clipped the end of the sentence and distinctly said "ayuda" not "ayudas", so I considered that this was an imperative statement and went with the audio. Wrong.
- 1147
Try listening one more time before answering because it tends to play before the audio is completely downloaded.
- 201
Also, try listening to both normal speed and slow. Sometimes one will have the "s" sound and the other won't. That usually tells you that there's supposed to be an "s" sound, but it got clipped in one of them. Rarely will an incorrect sound get added to one and not the other.
NOTE: "Disculpa," which is imperative, is not likely to be followed by another imperative. Just as in English you wouldn't say "Excuse me, help me." Now the speaker is asking Ana to help him or her, but not using the imperative. This calls for present tense, 3rd person singular, informal: "ayudas," even if you don't hear an "s." As another example, if you hear "los año," and you're sure about the "los," then it has to be "los años," even if the "s" is dropped. Sorry, if I over-explain.
ok, but where does '' imperative '' even come into play here....formal or informal ??….
- 201
Literally, "Excuse me" is telling or asking someone to do something, namely to excuse the speaker. That's imperative. The same is true for "Disculpa."
Marked wrong for spelling Ana with two “n”s - ridiculous. And there’s no option to report it.
I got this wrong because I spelt Ana as Anna - is that such a big error?
- 1147
Above all, you must note that they might be referring to the listening exercises, where it's impossible to determine the spelling from just, well, listening.
Sorry, a name is given and is what it is regardless of language spoken.
- 1147
Well, even then it could be a listening exercise, so let's be open to that unless they say otherwise. And, it could be that "Ana"/"Anna" is a non-Spanish person and there's no rule saying someone Spanish can't be named with two successive N's so let's be open to that as well.
- 560
The original statement is a request. The speaker is asking if Ana will help him/her. We often say "Can you" or "Will you" to make such a request. "Do you" is not suitable for that. It sounds awkward. It is asking if Ana is now helping the person, but the wording is unconventional.
- 1147
There are situations where "poder" is implied in Spanish, especially when using "tú" or "usted". This is one of them. In other words, "me ayudas" can be taken to mean "me puedes ayudar"/"puedes ayudarme".
- 1147
There are situations where "poder" is implied in Spanish, especially when using "tú" or "usted". This is one of them. In other words, "me ayudas" can be taken to mean "me puedes ayudar"/"puedes ayudarme".
I just read that "disculpe" is informal, hence calling her Ana implies she is my friend, while "disculpa" is formal.. am I wrong?
Yes. Somehow you have it wrong. Disculpar is infinitive so disculpe is imperative for usted (ie formal) but disculpa for tú (informal) as here, for reasons explained.
Well may I help you was not accepted. This is totally unacceptable, even for free (:-). Seriously languages do not a "degree of exactitude" in them and therefore that is a problem for an online program. It's how people program the 1's and 0's.
- 1147
You got it backwards. "May I help you?" is wrong because "¿Me ayudas?" literally means "Do you help me?", and is used to mean "Can/May you help me?".
- 1040
David, "may I help you" was not accepted because that would be Disculpa, Ana, ¿te ayudo?.
