"你划过龙舟吗？"
Translation:Have you rowed a dragon boat before?
31 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
I don't see where "before" is in this sentence. Couldn't it be: "Have you rowed a dragon boat?"
67
That's 过, 你。。。过 can be seen as "Have you ever....".
Not really, the English sentence seems a bit hanging without it.
As KTo228 mentioned, as far as I know and weird though it sounds, it should be paddled and not rowed.
过=have pp. 以前=before. There's no hint about "before" in the Chinese sentence. And using "have pp" without "before" is okay.
- 1425
This is factually wrong, dragonboats are paddled not rowed.
https://www.thoughtco.com/differences-between-rowing-and-paddling-2555860
- 1613
"Have you rowed a dragon boat before?", "Have you ever rowed a dragon boat?", "Have you ever rowed a dragon boat before?", "Have you paddled a dragon boat before?" etc. All of these are valid translations of the sentence and once again, we're being marked on the ability to remember a random English sentence, not on our understanding of the Chinese text.
We don't use rows for dragon boat we use paddles. It is not correct to say rowed dragon boat.
It's true, but the implements used for rowing are called "oars", not "rows". :-)
Should be “Have you paddled a dragon boat before?” Rowing is when you have two oars, one in each hand. Paddling is when you grasp one oar with two hands.
- 1462
For the sticky rice dumpling -sentence it didn't suggest the "before", but for this one it was required. Consistency!
If "Have you rowed a dragon boat before?" is an acceptable answer in this case, then surely "Have you rowed a dragon boat?" should be, too.
One thing I have learned about Duolingo, if putting a word into a sentence is even remotely defensible, you'd better put it in, even if it is rotally redundend, ungrammatic, or just plain awkward. Otherwise Duolingo will consider it wrong.
If they wanted to convey "before", it would have said, "您以前是否一生中曾经都划过龙舟吗？"
- 537
where is "before" in this sentence? I think "have you rowed a dragon boat" should be accepted (before is "intended" but not available in this case), am I wrong?
"Before" certainly isn't necessary. Personally, I'd probably leave it out but add "ever" in this scenario, as in "Have you ever paddled...", but your sentence is okay too (except for the main verb, which Duo has wrong as well). However, I don't mind "before" for an alternative answer. It's arguably redundant, but it can be used idiomatically for talking about one's life experience, which is the gist of the Chinese sentence.
As others on this page have noted, in spite of Duo's choice of verb, in English dragon boats are paddled, not rowed. Apparently Chinese doesn't make this distinction, but the English translation should take the context into account.
- 537
"Paddling" still not accepted although correct... I marked it to add it, no changes made up to now. I really believe they do use google tanslator and algorithms to correct (at least some of) the sentences... The "before" is redundant and useless (and not available in the sentence) while the "ever" makes more sense and it is more correct, what I think though, is that before they ask to pay for the use of duolingo plus they have to correct up to perfect the "basic website".
