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- Topic: Spanish >
- "Sí, estoy muy ocupado."
54 Comments
932
Normally yes, a woman would say ocupada here. But on Duolingo, the apparent gender of the voice and the gender used in the sentence are not connected.
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Having an apparently female voice describe herself as ocupado is poor pedagogy. Also, the last syllable of a recording is sometimes dropped on both the normal and slow version. So when you hear "Sí, estoy muy ocupad..." you have to to guess that the grammatical gender used corresponds to the apparent gender of the voice.
- 932
Well, at least in more traditional classroom settings you have the same restriction when it comes to the teacher's gender versus what she gives as examples of talking about oneself. :´)
- 403
They should be connected. It is confusing to have a woman using the male form of an adjective to describe herself. I would think a good teacher would not give an example of calling oneself by the opposite gender, unless of course they identified with that gender.
Regarding your lower comment, no. Just like having a teacher of the opposite gender, you can know that the word used for a female speaker so you just change the ending if applicable. Besides, when you learn a language, you don’t only learn words and sentences that apply to just you- you learn the opposite gender, adjectives that don’t describe you, places you don’t live in, and things you don’t use. That’s just part of learning a language, you’ll always need to know those words even if you’ll never describe yourself with feminine words.
- 932
John, the teacher eventually has to teach the guys how to talk about themselves, à la "Now, if I were a man, I'd say 'Me siento muy enfermo hoy', of course, with the masculine adjective enfermo."
How else would you get that across?
The basic rule for "estar" and "ser" is as follows: "ser" is used for permanent states, whereas "estar" is for temporary states. For example: mood, location and current actions are temporary, therefore you use "estar". Estoy bien, estás ocupado, estamos en la escuela, están en el trabajo, está caminando, etc. Things like your gender, nationality, physical aspect (in general) doesn't change. Soy una mujer, eres un hombre, es español, somos estadounidenses, soy rubia (blonde), sois altos (I live in Spain, so I use "vosotros" as well). there are other rules, exceptions and more elaborate explanations, but this is a very good groundrule. I hope this helps!
I like to use this to help me remember; "What you feel and where you are, that is when you use 'estar'"
I used the word "occupied" instead of "busy" and it said my answer is wrong. Occupada literally means occupied.
- 932
Xiomara, you have the word muy in this sentence, which also needs to be translated into English.
What's the difference between "yo soy" & "estoy" please?
Someone else commented this, but no replies, & I am also very curious :-) Thanks everyone...
- 932
Soy is a conjugation of the verb ser, which translates as "to be" in English. Estoy is a form of the verb estar, also translating as "to be". These verbs get used in different circumstances.
Ser is generally used to talk about identities, characteristics, or times of events:
- Soy Larry, su camarero. - I am Larry, your waiter.
- Eres muy simpática. - You are very nice.
- La reunión es el sábado. - The meeting is on Saturday.
Estar, on the other hand, is used to describe states and conditions, so traits that are not inherent to the object you're talking about. It's also used to talk about the location of objects:
- Está oscuro fuera. - It is dark outside.
- Estoy muy enfermo. - I am very ill.
- La niña está en el jardín. - The girl is in the garden.
Soy is the yo form of ser, and you use ser for things like professions, descriptions, and other permanent traits.
Estoy is for temporary things, like feelings or location. You would say "estoy feliz" (I am happy), not "soy feliz," because the latter would mean you are happy all the time, as a permanent part of your identity. In middle school, my Spanish teacher gave us a nice rhyme to remember that might help: "how you feel and where you are, always use the verb estar."
- 932
No, nouns that don't describe you won't agree with your gender. Duolingo will still be masculine even if you are not.
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Duo is strict on the spelling I put occupada instead of ocupada and it failed me!
Well, Duolingo is a computer program. There are a lot of words and sentences where Duo can recognize typos and tell you that instead of marking it wrong, but a computer program isn’t a person and won’t always know you meant the right thing but you misspelled a word.
Additionally, my guess is that this was either a listening or a translating to English exercise, so ocupada shouldn't have been accepted because the speaker (regardless of being a male or a female voice) says ocupado.
- 335
I did the same thing and lost a heart, very unfair! Yet on other exercises it let me off and just said I had a typo in my answer.
shouldn't it be "Sí, estoy ocupsdo muy"? don't the adjectives come after the nouns?
No, because “muy” (very) isn’t an adjective in this sentence and “ocupado” (busy) isn’t a noun. “Muy” is an adverb because it modifies an adjective - adverbs modify anything that isn't a noun. In this case, the adjective is “ocupado.” If you said “sí, estoy ocupado muy,” you’d be saying “yes, I am busy very,” which is not correct.
- 338
I've translated this sentence correctly in the pevious section and in this one. Every time, the system considers it incorrect. I lost so far 3-4 hearts on the same sentence!!
It's extremely easy to be making the same mistake over and over without realizing it (I've been there).
Read your answer very carefully before submitting it.
However, if you still your answer should be accepted, please use the Report button during the lesson.
why "estoy" and not "yo soy " for i am here ? it says - si, ESTOY muy occupada
- 932
Heena, we're talking about a specific state or condition that I am in, and when you're talking about conditions, you use the verb estar.
For 'muy'... duolingo pronounces it "moi" but spanishdictionary.com says "moo-ee". Does anyone know where these accents come from
Yes, I am very busy.... but Duolingo should also have a free demo podcast
I was doing my french and I don't understand. I was using the word bank, out the proper words to translate this sentence weren't there.
