"Disculpa, Ana, ¿me ayudas?"
Translation:Excuse me, Ana, can you help me?
92 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
Me too. Grrr. I wanted to report it, but it didn't have an appropriate choice (like "my answer should have been correct". Grrr.
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.
1746
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.
It's accepted now. And hilariously, they also accept "Hannah":
- [Excuse / Forgive / Pardon] me, Ana, will you help me?
- [Excuse / Forgive / Pardon] me, Anna, will you help me?
- [Excuse / Forgive / Pardon] me, Anne, will you help me?
- [Excuse / Forgive / Pardon] me, Ann, will you help me?
- [Excuse / Forgive / Pardon] me, Hannah, will you help me?
Yes, it can also mean another way. It's just that in Spanish, requests can be asked this way.
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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.
What do you mean by "not grammatically correct English"? It's perfectly grammatical English.
Haha, I just wrote on another forum page that I often question the English of even native English speakers. And here's a classic example.
are you kidding me? Duo marked me wrong because I misspelled Ana's name? Really?
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.
Try listening one more time before answering because it tends to play before the audio is completely downloaded.
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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.
Because of the placement of "Ana". They only accept it in the middle:
- [Excuse / Forgive / Pardon] me, Ana, can you help me?
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Marked wrong for spelling Ana with two “n”s - ridiculous. And there’s no option to report it.
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".
ok, but where does '' imperative '' even come into play here....formal or informal ??….
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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."
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".
You are in Duolingo's target audience if you can't believe that Ana is a correct and preferred spelling in Spanish.
Anyway, if you are doing this sentence as a translation exercise, Duo currently accepts Anna as well as Ann, Anne and Hannah.
- 1746
Does Duo really accept all of those spellings, Ed? That's unfortunate, I think, because it doesn't help us learn Spanish spelling which, I believe, is one of Duolingo's goals. (It's my understanding that there is no nn in Spanish.)
Correct, there is no nn (normally) in Spanish. If there were, it would be pronounced as two n's, sort of like in English "unnamed".
I also think it is unfortunate that Duo is adding the English spellings to its database. I think Duo is reacting to the pressure groups in the discussions. Many are outraged at having their familiar spellings rejected. Duo is a business and has to keep its customers happy.
Some exercises still only accept the Spanish spellings, but others now have various English variants as well.
If you are doing Duolingo in a web browser, you can view the different solutions in the database yourself by using a browser extension.
I'm not sure the different spellings are allowed in the Type what you hear exercises.
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Thanks for the reply, Ed. I've found the same about Duo's spelling of names. I've also tried to use the browser extension, but apparently my privacy settings are preventing it--the icon to check acceptable answers never appears! I've decided on privacy over complete information, so still depend on my fellow-learner-friends to tell me what Duo accepts--or get the answer from trial and error!
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Just an observation from going to the forum often. When you go to the forum from an exercise, it's obvious that some are on there from tap (or type) what you here and some are from translating vocal or typing.
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Haven't seen excusa. Have seen perdon and disculpe and always use pardon me for perdon and excuse me for disculpe. I was taught about 3/4 of a century ago that excuse me was for leaving and pardon me was for when you did something you shouldn't have. Don't think that applies now.
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I just tried to report it too, and for just a second, it flashed that my opinion has been recorded. What I don't get is that obviously they know there is a problem, but they chose to not fix it and just collect all our objections.....?
Anna, Ana who can tell but one is wrong. Same exercise Manuel sound like Mane, quite frustrating. I wonder if someone from Duo ever looks at these discussions?
- 1746
Keith, it's my understanding that DL personnel do NOT look at the discussions. Their purpose is for learners to help each other. You can use the "report" button to alert Duo when you think your answer should be accepted.
Both are correct. They accept numerous versions of 'Ana', even 'Hannah' (since Spanish doesn't pronounce the 'h'). You made a different error.
- [Excuse / Forgive / Pardon] me, Ana, will you help me?
- [Excuse / Forgive / Pardon] me, Anna, will you help me?
- [Excuse / Forgive / Pardon] me, Anne, will you help me?
- [Excuse / Forgive / Pardon] me, Ann, will you help me?
- [Excuse / Forgive / Pardon] me, Hannah, will you help me?
Both are correct. They accept numerous versions of 'Ana', even 'Hannah' (since Spanish doesn't pronounce the 'h').
- [Excuse / Forgive / Pardon] me, Ana, will you help me?
- [Excuse / Forgive / Pardon] me, Anna, will you help me?
- [Excuse / Forgive / Pardon] me, Anne, will you help me?
- [Excuse / Forgive / Pardon] me, Ann, will you help me?
- [Excuse / Forgive / Pardon] me, Hannah, will you help me?
I wrote disculpa anna, me ayudas? and I was marked wrong. The only thing I can see that I did wrong was I put 2 N's in Ana? I wrote Anna. Seriously?
Good reply. There are Spanish words with double n.
And while my reply might have been a little rude, so was your first post mocking Duo with "Seriously?" We should try to have an open mind about how things are done in Spanish.
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.
Both are correct. They accept numerous versions of 'Ana', even 'Hannah' (since Spanish doesn't pronounce the 'h'). You made a different error.
- [Excuse / Forgive / Pardon] me, Ana, will you help me?
- [Excuse / Forgive / Pardon] me, Anna, will you help me?
- [Excuse / Forgive / Pardon] me, Anne, will you help me?
- [Excuse / Forgive / Pardon] me, Ann, will you help me?
- [Excuse / Forgive / Pardon] me, Hannah, will you help me?
Nope. You had a different error as both 'Ana' and 'Anna' are accepted.
- [Excuse / Forgive / Pardon] me, Ana, will you help me?
- [Excuse / Forgive / Pardon] me, Anna, will you help me?
- [Excuse / Forgive / Pardon] me, Anne, will you help me?
- [Excuse / Forgive / Pardon] me, Ann, will you help me?
- [Excuse / Forgive / Pardon] me, Hannah, will you help me?
"Disculpa, Anna, ¿me ayudas?" is wrong because I referred to "Anna" rather than "Ana?" I see others encountered lo mismo.
Both are correct. They accept numerous versions of 'Ana', even 'Hannah' (since Spanish doesn't pronounce the 'h'). You made a different error.
- [Excuse / Forgive / Pardon] me, Ana, will you help me?
- [Excuse / Forgive / Pardon] me, Anna, will you help me?
- [Excuse / Forgive / Pardon] me, Anne, will you help me?
- [Excuse / Forgive / Pardon] me, Ann, will you help me?
- [Excuse / Forgive / Pardon] me, Hannah, will you help me?
That wasn't why you were marked incorrect. As I've written multiple times on this page, 'Anna' is accepted as are many other versions of Ana. You had a different error.
In a Type what you hear, I believe only Ana is accepted.
It is useful for learners to know that consonants are not doubled in Spanish the way they are in English. Double consonants are special in Spanish. There are combinations like RR and LL which are pronounced differently than R and L, and also CC which is pronounced KS as in lección (pron. leksion).
That said, it is possible to encounter an NN in Spanish in a few rare words, and some double letters are preserved in foreign words like pizza and topless. But please don't use a double N in Ana.
Duo now often accepts the English spelling with the unnecessary n, but not in Type what you hear exercises.
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Anna is not a Spanish name. If you type a single error, Duo will usually just mark it as a typo but if the typo results in a word in Duo's database (apparently even if it's in the English part) it will not accept it. From my viewpoint, the worst thing Duo could do is to ignore what look like typos that were actually errors because I wouldn't know I got it wrong. If it's marked as a typo, I at least see where I made an error.
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.
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?".
- 1746
David, "may I help you" was not accepted because that would be Disculpa, Ana, ¿te ayudo?.