"My neighbor is Slovak."
Translation:Můj soused je Slovák.
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In almost all of these exercises, the word 'Slovak' is used incorrectly. It is a noun, and should only be used to refer to a person from Slovakia. 'My neighbour is Slovak' is using the noun as an adjective, and should have the indefinite article 'a' before it. The correct adjective form is 'Slovakian'.
Please check a respectable dictionary. You will find that Slovak and Slovakian are synonyms.
Since we do not know the gender of the neighbor from the sentence, I tried to translate from the English as if my neighbor was female. Although I realize that "soused" is a masculine noun, I wrote "Moji soused je Slovenka." which is not correct. How should this sentence be translated, given a neighbor who is a woman?
Yes, you can end with "Slovenka", given your neighbor is a woman.
It will be more educational to let you try again and formulate the sentence correctly. I will remind you that "moji" is masculine animate plural (not what you're looking for) and "soused" is still masculine so it also needs to be altered.
Have you figured out how to say it? :) I thought you were going to post it...
Well, I considered "Moje soused je Slovenka" but this seems too easy. And I wondered if it is possible to give the feminine possessive pronoun to a masculine noun. (We would never say "můj kočka" for a male cat!) I would be tempted to say, "Moje souseda je Slovenka" but IDK if I can just create a feminine noun that way. So, I resisted embarassing myself in front of the whole Czech Duolingo community, and only said Thank You. And I'll say it again, AgnusO. Thank you.
I was holding my fingers crossed for you that you find the word for a female neighbor somewhere in a dictionary. It's "sousedka". This "-ka" is a very productive suffix:
- teacher: učitel -> učitelka
- shop assistent: prodavač -> prodavačka
- doctor: doktor -> doktorka
- friend: kamarád -> kamarádka
- director: ředitel -> ředitelka
- and many many more
So yes:
- Můj soused je Slovák.
- Moje sousedka je Slovenka. (or "Má" if you want to be more formal)
- Moje kočka je bílá.
- Můj kocour je černý. (male cat, tomcat)
- Můj pes je velký.
- Moje fena je malá. (female dog, b-word)
I tried this approach because I know, from my own experience, that when someone figures something out on their own (with help), they usually remember it much better afterwards than when they're just handed the answer on a silver platter. But I'm afraid I just came off as reluctant instead....
Full disclosure, I did see " sousedka" in Google Translate, but for this challenge from you I felt that that would be cheating. LOL In a real world situation I would not have any hesitation to go to a dictionary.
Oh, and not true about "coming off as reluctant." I felt honored that you were giving me this direct instruction. With so many students taking this course this personal attention is inspirational.