"El metro"
Translation:The meter
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duel meanings here.
it means 'meter' (lenght) and also 'metro' (subway)
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This is the most inaccurate definition that I have seen on Duolingo which I love and appreciate.
"Metro" by itself is a unit of length, una metro or just metro is one meter of length.
As a measuring instrument, a tape measure or ruler etc. "metro" should have an un in front of it. Un metro means the tape measure or the ruler.
By placing an "el" in front of it, el metro generally applies to a means of transportation. In UK it would apply to the tube, in New York the subway. It can even be used to mean a surface transportation system such as the bus system in Laredo. In Houston the bus system is called The Metro.
There, I have now told you more than I know. Take care
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El metro can mean the Metro/subway, the ruler, the length of a meter, or the meter of poetry. A meter of the equipment type like a gas meter or water meter is called el contador or el medidor. A parking meter is a parquimetro. All English terms and spelling are American English (and hopefully not typos)
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Metro is always masculine, so the unit of length cannot be "una metro", it's still "un metro".
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Only the London underground commonly gets referred to as the Tube, not the whole UK. In Glasgow, Scotland it´s the Subway and in Newcastle/Gateshead etc. (north-east England) it´s the Metro.
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That's interesting. I have been in London, but never in Scotland nor much in the Northeast. Just out of curiosity, does the London system predate the others? Since subway and metro seem to be used fairly universally in English speaking countries and metro in Romance languages like French and Spanish, I always assumed that the tube either was one of the earlier such systems or involved somewhat different technologies. I do remember some London stations being much farther underground than those I found in the other cities I have been to.
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Londres fue primero con el “Metropolitan” pero luego tuvo otro sistema, el “Underground”, y los dos se fusionaron.
1863 Metropolitan Underground Railway, London - the "Met"
1896 Glasgow Subway - "Subway",
1902 Undeground Electric Railways Company, London - “Tube” railways,
1933 London systems merged,
1970 (failed) "Picc-Vicc" tunnel, Manchester,
1980, 1991 (extended), 2002 (most widespread) - Tyne and Wear.
Glasgow es el único que está bajo tierra. Durante un tiempo fue llamado "Underground", más tarde apodado "Clockwork Orange" y luego oficialmente llamado "Subway" nuevamente.
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I thought metre means meter. Am I mistaken or are there two ways to say meter ?
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In the UK. a "metre" is a unit of length, while a "meter" is something used to measure things, like a gas meter, voltmeter etc. In the US the words for both meanings are spelled "meter".
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Can this also refer to a meter that measures numbers, such as a volt meter (number of volts) or an amp meter (number of amps) or, as already mentioned, a parking meter (number of minutes parked)?
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Measuring instrument, general: el medidor
Volt meter: el voltímetro
Ampere meter: el amperímetro
Parking meter: el parquímetro
I wrote The train, because I've heard the subway or train referred to as El metro in some Latin countries.
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If you had put The meter, you probably would have gotten it correct. El is the not a. But if you do that and get it wrong, report it through the flag icon. I think so many people tend to think the subway because it is called the metro in cities all over the world, that it is possible that the Duo staff didn't think about it. But the difference between the and a will always trigger an error. I do it all the time in Portuguese because the feminine definite article is just a instead of la in Portuguese. And while I know that is true, it is very easy for an English speaker to trip up and say a instead of the.
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Two meanings are possible, so why not write the program to accept both in one answer?
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This is not how Duolingo works. One translation suffices, but you can mix it up when the question comes around again.
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That's not surprising, but I bet you don't live in a city which has a subway system called the metro.