153 Comments This discussion is locked.
Agreed! For my brain to hear it correctly I'd need "I work a little" or "I don't work much."
Exactly. Nobody would ever say this in english. I would say... I work a little on the weekend. Or even... On the weekend i have to work a little.
I do believe "On the weekend" is gramatically wrong when placed at the start of the sentence. I think it should be "During weekends, I work little. " or "This weekend I will work a little."
Real people say "I work a little on the weekend." Duolingo doesn't recognize this.
People might say that, but "a little" does not mean the same as "little". The former is positive, meaning I do work a bit, whereas the latter is negative, meaning I don't work much.
you're right, it doesn't, but if we were saying "little," we would always say "very little." The idiom is just not correct in this particular sentence.
Agreed, but what people would actually say (at least where I am) is "I don't work much on the weekend"
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These "poco" exercises are making me un poco loco. The Spanish>English translations are awkward, if not downright ungrammatical. If I ruled the world, I think I would render this particular sentence as: "On the weekend I work only a little." But, sadly, I do not rule the world. Yet.
I do little work at the weekend - marked wrong. No self-respecting English person would say 'on the weekend' or 'I work little'
I keep messing this one up because of the exact same reason. Very frustrating.
'on the weekend' = yes, 'I work little' = yes, I respect myself = yes, I am English = yes ... and so on
Agreed phelicks! In English, people are more likely to say, 'I don't work much at the weekend'. The phrase, 'I work little' would never be used, neither would 'On the weekend'.
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On the weekend is the way to say it in America. To us, "at the weekend" sounds very wrong.
Right, but that just sounds really weird to us natives of England and Great Britain, where we'd say "At the weekend" or more likely just "At weekends". (Also, similarly, 'on accident' sounds really odd to us, where we say 'by accident')
DL has a bit of a problem with this one I think. Once more they reward a literal translation. The English translation is not how one would actually say this although it will work. I would say "On the weekend I don't work much" which I think the above is how Spanish would express the same idea. All languages have options how to express an idea and some are more elegant than others.
Duolingo told me my answer of "I work little on the weekend." was incorrect and that the correct answer is "I don't work a lot on the weekend.", but the words don't (no) and a lot (mucho) aren't in the sentence. ("I don't work a lot on the weekend," would be "Yo no trabajo mucho el fin de semana.") .
Why is it that only you and i have that question while everyone else bickering about how the sentence sounds weird?
Weekends are like days - there's no need for the preposition. eg. I went to school on Monday = Fui a la escuela el lunes. I worked on the weekend = Trabajé el fin de semana.
In England we never say on the weekend but at the weekend also work little in English is not correct it should be work a little. I have reported this many times but they still ignore it. Just glad I am not paying for this
I totally agree, unfortunately DL seems to prefer American English with little room for manoeuvre
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"Work little" and "work a little" have two entirely different meanings, and the first one is what the Spanish is saying.
There is nothing wrong with saying "work little". "Little" and "a little" are both good English, but have different meanings. Assuming Spanish and English are similar, then "yo trabajo poco" means I work little (not much), whereas "yo trabajo un poco" would mean I do work a bit.
Duo's English translation is correct. Your assertion is incorrect. No wonder they are ignoring it.
Take some time and learn some English. See https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/quantifiers/little-a-little-few-a-few
I will add that you have a run-on sentence. You need a period after "at the weekend".
You ascribe omniscience to yourself and Duo. Words are trickier than that. Meanings depend on the speaker, the listener (reader), the immediate circumstances, their history and many, many other things. Two different people can speak the same words and mean very different things.
This is language--not math.
I agree. By the way, my comment above was in response to the lecture to those of us who have the audacity to disagree with Duo by EdNed2.
What dose are you referring to? :)
It looks like you work little at the English language.
"I work little, to be sure, but at difficult things." - Edgar Degas.
"I work little while Fitzgibbon's over Lanesville." - Wheeler.
Nobody cares about your concepts of the English language. But if Duo comes across this discussion, they will know that "work little" is good English.
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I hope this comment comes out below Bruce's post about "verbal harassment," because I completely agree with him, whether or not there is a typo.
But, my comment also is meant for EdNed2: You are correct about the translation of Duo's prompt. For that reason, I up-voted your remarks.
You (to be fair, others, too) seem not to have read Duo's guidelines about discussion forums, though. May I take a little extra space (okay, a lot of extra space) to paste a few here?
Always be Respectful We come together from across the world at varying language levels with the same goal in mind - to learn. Curiosity, questioning, and cultural understanding are something we celebrate. Be respectful of others and where they’re coming from.
Help and support across all skill levels We are all in this together. Learning a language is hard and takes a lot of courage and dedication. If someone uses incorrect grammar or has a question you think has an obvious answer, kindly and calmly help them out. Heckling and being straight up mean doesn’t help anyone learn. Can’t say it nicely? Don’t weigh in.
Embrace and share regional language differences A language can have many words, accents and ways to say the same thing. We think that’s one of the wonders of languages. Approach these conversations with an open mind and attitude.
Sorry--hope this doesn't get too many "TL;DR" comments!
I am not impressed by your remark for me to learn some English I am seventy one years old and have been speaking English since I was about eighteen months old. Work little is not CORRECT English just read some of the other comments and see how many say work little is not good English
Thanks again, EdNed2 for this excellent link. It would appear that few people have read it as the argument for 'a little' versus 'little' still goes on. Here is is again, in case anyone missed it: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/quantifiers/little-a-little-few-a-few
DL said wrong because I said "I work a bit on the weekend." There is no "no" in this sentence!!!!!
I wrote "On weekends, I work little", and got marked wrong. The first time I wrote "On the weekend, I work a little" and got wrong there too. This questions needs fixed, as we say in Pittsburgh.
The Spanish is "El fin de semana," which is singular. Therefore the English must be singular: "weekend".
Then the Spanish says, "yo trabajo poco", which is "I work little". It means I don't do much work.
"I work little" and "I work a little" are both good English but mean different things. The former is intended, not the latter.
Ergo, we come up with "On the weekend I work little". That's the correct translation. It sounds very awkward in English, though, because weekend is left undefined. We want to know if it is this weekend, last weekend, next weekend, all weekends, whatever. But adding a qualifier is not our job; it is just to translate the sentence - which for all I know is also awkward in Spanish.
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It is difficult to translate from Spanish into the varieties of spoken English. In the parts of the U.S. where I have lived, I would naturally say: "On weekends, I work little," or "On weekends, I do little work." But, that could be different in other parts of the English-speaking world, even in the U.S. Reported, in hopes Duo will accept more possibilities.
I think the amount of confusion concerning the subtle difference in meaning between 'I work little (not much, hardly ever)' and 'I work a little (a small amount, for a short while)' stems from the fact that this course is designed for English speakers. If English is your first language, then the difference is obvious. If English is not your first language, making sense of this subtlety is doubly difficult. Added to that, we have speakers of English English and speakers of American English - hence the use of 'On the weekend/on weekends' versus 'At the weekend/at weekends'. Many people have already explained this very well and suggested links. Here's another: https://pediaa.com/difference-between-little-and-a-little/
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It's an expression, it's not always possible to translate word by word. I'm from Chicago U.S. and here we say "a little" or "a little bit". Also "ON the weekend/s", NOT "AT the weekend/s." ("At the weekend" is correct in England). So people in my area would say: "I work a little bit on the weekends." Or "I work a bit on the weekends." or "On the weekends, I work a little (bit)." Usually, "the weekend" (singular) refers to a specific weekend, while "(the) weekends" (plural) means every weekend. If someone here says "On the weekend I work little" we would know you are not from around here, a foreigner. :)
It's singular in the Spanish sentence. Weekend, not weekends.
The English translation sounds very awkward to me; not many people would say "On the weekend I work little". So we look for translations that sound more natural. "On weekends" sounds better. But it is not an accurate translation of the Spanish. Similar with "This weekend...".
In language courses, they are usually very fussy about singular and plural (and gender, and tenses, and so on). So one needs to get that part right even if it sounds poor.
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However, we don't always have to respect the plural or singular, such as in "buenos dias" that becomes "good day" and not "good days".
Agreed. The 'correct' English translation is NOT what an English person would say.
IMHO We are here to learn Spanish, not to polish our English. And therefore, the meaning and context of the translation from Spanish are supposed to take priority over grammatical and spelling errors in English. Thus, the answers in English (NOT in Spanish), which are making sense but are not right just "technically/grammatically" (the way DL decides so), should be accepted with the correcting comment (sort of "You have a typo in your answer...") and such answers should not be counted wrong. Otherwise, instead of concentrating on Spanish, we are getting sucked into the time consuming forum discussions about usage of English.
However, as I understand it the English for Spanish Speakers course uses a lot of the same source material here in its inverse form, so if the statement is weird in this course, it's probably just as weird in the one that's actually teaching people English. :/
British English speakers would say at the weekend not on the weekend Whilst I agree with earlier comments that we're here to learn Spanish not to discuss the finer points of English, it is very frustrating have a perfectly good English translation marked as wrong.
Where is the word "on" coming from?? El fin de semana is literally THE weekend. Are we just supposed to guess the preposition?
Unfortunately, it is sometimes impossible to do word for word translations between different languages. For example: In Spanish, a person might tell their age by saying "Yo tengo dieciseis años.", meaning "I have sixteen years." In English, the same person would actually say "I am sixteen years old." In Spanish, a person might say "Hace frio.", meaning "It makes cold." In English, the same person would actually say "It is cold." Added to that complexity, colloquilisms like "on the weekend" in the United States of America versus "At the weekend" in Great Britain create more confusion. So, the answer is yes. Guess as well as you can. If you don't like the answer given by Duolingo, read the discussion for the question; and, if necessary, submit a report challenging the answer.
'literally' in language translations means 'word for word'. So 'el fin de semana' literally (word for word) means 'the end of week' - this is simply the turn of phrase that Spanish uses. In English we use 'on/at the weekend'.
The challenge that DL faces is when it wants to teach us a comparable phrase (such as 'at the weekend' - or another example might be 'me caes bien') or when it wants to teach us the individual words.
Thus far DL has not indicated very clearly when it is trying to teach us one vs. the other. I hope it adds that in the near future.
(By the way, 'me caes bien' means 'I like you' but more literally the words mean 'you fall on me well' - a wonderful phrase!)
This sentence is expressing on the weekend with the Spanish phrase el fin de semana. It's not a literal translation, but just how each language commonly expresses it.
I wrote "the weekend I work little." it's a literal translation, but I guess it wasn't grammatically enough in English for DL to accept it lol
I also wrote "The weekend I work little." DL also marked me wrong. I gave the absolute most literal translation because I was certain, from past experience with DL, that DL would not accept the more commonly spoken translation "I work little on the weekend." Unfortunately, translating this particular sentence is problematic. I will try the more common translation next time. I am moving on. But, I am reporting it.
should be weekends. If want weekend singular, it would be "this" or "that" not just "the."
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It shows some as alternate but marks it as incorrect as substitute for little.
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I am not so concerned about singular and plural. Where do you come up with "on"?
there is a different meaning to that then the sentence, On the weekend I work little. "A little" could be a euphamism or a truth, but either way it implies you ARE working on the weekend(s). The way this sentence is (...I work little) implies that you work either none at all, or very little. So, while they are not OPPOSITES, they are nevertheless, separated on the spectrum: They are not the same thing.
A little more: the weekends" meant a special days. Just weekends meant any weekends
why did it say "weekends"? it should have been weekend right?
the Spanish words were "el fin de semana" and not "fines"
Dee, your question has been hashed and re-hashed many times in this discussion... if you can't/don't read those responses I fail to understand why you would read this one!
...but here goes: 'a little' is a statement with a positive focus that 'some' work is/was done. 'little' (by itself) has a negative focus that 'no' or 'minimal' work is/was done.
Many people here claim 'little' by itself is wrong or outdated - but it isn't. Maybe they just haven't experienced hearing it from someone using it in a useful way. Here we go: there is little point debating this as both forms of usage are valid and in current use.
Have fun!
I am a native English speaker from the United States. In English, "Work little" literally means that a person does not do much work. Unfortunately, "Work a little" is ambiguous in English; in some contexts, it could mean that a person works a lot. I do not have sufficient knowledge of Spanish to be sure of all the nuances of that language. A native Spanish speaker might be able to provide additional insights.
This may be a literal translation but it is not the way people speak. A better translation would be "at the weekend I do little work"
I suppose, like 'The Blind Men and the Elephant' we can argue this from several different standpoints. From where I stand, I can see that Duo doesn't work much at weekends. I think if he worked 'a little' he would have said 'yo trabajo un poco'. Nowadays, in English, we would tend to turn the sentence into the negative 'I don't work much'. To say 'I work little', although technically correct, seems to be an unduly archaic construction.
on the weekend i work little sounds really weird. i don't believe this is grammatically correct in english, but i guess if it says its correct in spanish, its correct
shouldn't it be something like "on the weekend i work a little" or "I work a little on the weekend"
Why does "El fin de semana" translate "on" the weekend instead of just the weekend?
Why does "el fin de semana" translate "on the weekend" instead of just "the weekend". Wouldn't "on the weekend" be, en el fin de semana"?
The translation is terrible. It's very awkward. Nobody who speaks English would ever say it like that.
Then it would seem you have a golden opportunity to learn some English while you learn Spanish...
I do not need to learn English. I am a native English speaker. I am giving feedback as to the fact the sentence construction for the English translation is weird and unnatural.
If you want to give feedback use the Report Button. The staff don't read the 1000+ posts generate each day in this forum.
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Hope this helps with the confusion. :)
"Little, a little. " from English Grammar Today
"(A) little" has a quantifier meaning ‘some’. We use it to mean ‘not as much as may be expected or wished for’.
Compare: She saves a little money every month. (some, a small amount). They had little money to spend. (not much/almost nothing).
A: Have you got any money? B: Yes, a little. (some, a small amount).
A: Have you got any money? B: No, very little. (not much/almost nothing).
"A little" with a noun. We use "a little" with singular uncountable nouns: Mary said nothing, but she drank some tea and ate a little bread.
"Little" with a noun. We use "little" with uncountable nouns. It is used in formal contexts: I’m not very happy about it but I suppose I have little choice.
"(A) little" without a noun. We can use "(a) little" as a pronoun. We can use it to substitute for a noun when it is obvious from the context: After that, she began to tell them a little about her life in Scotland,…...
"Little" is not very common without a noun. We use it in formal contexts: Little is known about his upbringing and education.
"(A) little of". We use "of" with "(a) little" when it comes before articles (a/an, the), demonstratives (this, that), possessives (my, your) or pronouns (him, them): Put the flour into a bowl, blend with a little of the milk and beat in the egg yolks.
"A little" as an adverb. We use "a little" as an adverb of degree. It is more formal than a bit: He smiled just a little. Her hands were shaking a little.
"A little" with adjectives, determiners, adverbs. We use "a little" before adjectives and adverbs to modify them. It is more formal than "a bit": She seemed to be getting a little better. What you need is a little more romance. We often use "a little" with "bit": I find that a little bit hard to believe.
"Little" as an adjective. We use "little" as an adjective to mean ‘small’: ‘You’re going to have a little baby brother, Martha,’ her mother told her one day. I know a little restaurant not far from here.
"Little" or "small"?
"Little" and "small" have similar meanings. We use small to refer only to size. We use "little" to refer to size, but also to express a positive emotion (especially with words like beautiful, lovely, wonderful): He’s a small baby. (He’s smaller than average.) He’s a lovely little baby. (He’s lovely and small.) There’s a wonderful little café at the end of the street. (preferred to: There’s a wonderful small café at the end of the street.)
Reference: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/quantifiers/little-a-little-few-a-few
Thanks - the original article shows things in a better context... at the end the bit about 'positive emotion' is also applicable to negative emotion, as in ”ugly little baby” - it's really just using it as a simple adjective (anyway, a minor detail).
The main trouble people report here on DL is that they think 'little' (used as an adverb) is not acceptable English. They go on to state something like: 'people NEVER say this' (my emphasis added) - when in fact they probably should say 'I have never heard anyone say this'.
It has been pointed out many times that this is all good English (and that it is the correct translation of the Spanish phrase) - to help here is a phrase that uses 'little' in a similar manner:
”He always works as little as possible”
I hope it shows how the word 'little' can be used (in common usage) to show a negative position with regard to the amount of work done.
So, some people just don't understand or just don't care. Perhaps they are worried about their DL score and being 'right' more than they care about learning Spanish or English.
You can't learn Spanish in an effective way if you don't know the English variations. I suspect that some of those that have a problem with the translation do not speak English as a first language - and the others just haven't encountered the term in normal usage.
I would really encourage both groups to be more positive about learning both languages - rather than trying to argue a point without knowing all the facts. As I have said before: there is little point in such an exercise.
Is Spanish grammar different than English grammar or am i missing something
Yes! You not only have different words to learn but also the structure of the sentences.
El fin de semana should be 'the weekend', for me it gives the answer the weekends? Los fin de semana should mean the weekends
Yes. Going from one language to another sometimes means that a word is dropped or added - or the word order is changed. Learning those differences is part of learning a new language.
I work little the weekend, sounds fine to me, is the word ''on'' really necessary? Why is it necessary?
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Why is 'On weekend I work little' not correct while 'On the weekend I work little.' correct???
unfortunately, there's no rule for this that I know, but it is true that "on weekend" is not what we say in English--and, in this case it actually is a direct translation because the Spanish version includes "el" But, you are right, it is confusing, because we do say "on weekends" more often than "on the weekends" (so, if the Spanish were los fines de semana,,,,,)
Here it goes. Èl= he, el=the, en=on. So where in the hell did el mean on the weekend. I even checked the Spanish dictionary to see if el could mean on. There is no examples in the dictionary, where el = on. I researched to see in spanish what mean on. The only examples I can find is that the Spanish word en= in, on or at, depending on the structure of the sentence . This question is ❤❤❤❤. And the people writing the sentences should know the difference between el an en.
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Jeff, I'm no expert, but I believe Spanish omits the preposition en with days of the week and also the weekend. For example, we have learned that el lunes is "on Monday," and los lunes is "on Mondays." In the same way el fin de semana is "on the weekend," and los fines de semana is "on weekends." (Apologies to people in the UK who say "at the weekend.")
