"तुझे सेब चाहिए या संतरा?"
Translation:Do you want an apple or an orange?
32 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
1474
I think 'Do you want an apple or orange?' should be accepted, since repeating the 'an' in English is redundant information, thus, unnecessary.
Even 'Do you want apple or orange'. Could be a flavor of something rather than discrete fruits
- 1369
I had the same thought. Perhaps someone can explain why the article एक is not necessary yet implied in this case. My next question is : Why was this comment voted down in one discussion and voted up in another?
- 1077
I agree. Formally, English may require the second "an" but in everyday conversation this shortcut is often deployed by native speakers. These aren't English lessons, so ambushing native English speakers with their little quirks that aren't exactly standard is a distraction, not a help.
They're not quite the same.
"Do you want and apple or [do you want] an orange?" suggests a choice of one or the other.
"Do you want an [apple or orange]?" suggests they're asking if you'd be happy with either.
In English we'd often answer the second version with our preference "an apple, please" but we could just as accurately answer it by saying, "yes".
How about the question, "would you like to be rich or famous?" Is a genie from a lamp asking you to choose one? Or is someone asking if you have a general interest in either thing?
Anyway, the Hindi lesson here is teaching you that in Hindi this sentence structure is asking you to make a choice of one or the other, and they're teaching you that by being strict with the English they'll accept. Clever, huh?!
Duolingo is teaching you the difference between an "exclusive or" and an "inclusive or".
An "exclusive or" excludes the other option. Do you want to live or die? Do you live in India or America? Are you rich or poor? Do you want the window open or closed? Do you want an apple or an orange? In all these examples, when you choose one, you exclude the other.
An "inclusive or" includes the other option. Do you like to sing or dance? Do you want an apple or orange? Etc. In these cases you could simply answer "yes".
In English we just make assumptions about what's being said. Quite a common "joke" is to say "yes" in answer to something that was intended as an "exclusive or". Q - Do you want pie or waffles? A - Yes.
So Duolingo's teaching the Hindi formation for an "exclusive or". And the only way to do that is to upset you all a little by insisting that's how you write it in English.
Notice that for the sentence "do you live in India or America?" they don't insist on "in America" because living in one naturally excludes the other. (Though, again, you could be annoying and answer that question with "yes" as well.)
what you have written means "do you want apple, or orange" (this is a yes/no question which is asking the person whether he wants any 1 (or both also) of the fruits) what the question asked by duolingo is "tujhe seb chahiye ya santra" which means "you want apple, or orange" (the question is asking the person to choose what he wants, apple or orange)
- 836
If it were a yes/no question wouldn't it be "kya tujhe seb ya santra chahiye"? I thought in these questions we added a "kya" in the beginning
चाहिए means 'is wanting' or 'is needing', so both are fine, but in the exercise, I only had the option to pick 'want', so there was no confusion. Throughout the course, Duolingo has switched between 'want' and 'need', so people should know both are fine.
I got this wrong initially for selecting "Do you need an apple or orange"...this seems like an error with my English rather than my Hindi and since the word "an" is not specifically part of the Hindi, since there are no articles, not strictly fair
- 1585
In my case, I had to choose between "ya" and "aur", without giving a translation what is requested. ("Fill the missing word") I chose "aur" and it was rejected. I suspect that "aur" should also be possible to say "You you want an apple and an orange" ?
I agree; I chose "and" after I had seen this sentence twice before. Of course, it was marked wrong! "Or" seems to be the only correct answer. Why I wonder?
Yes, this was my question, see below. So how do you say "Do you want an apple AND an orange?"?
Since it doesn't begin with a "kya", this actually reads "you want an apple or an orange?" - the question is implied by tone, right? So why doesn't Duolingo accept that?
What if you want to say "Do you want an apple AND an orange?" Can you just substitute "और" instead of "या"
- 1525
Well, in your example ("Do you want an apple AND an orange?"), the expected answer is "yes" or "no", not "an apple" or "an orange". If I understand correctly, this changes things in Hindi. I believe you would have to say "क्या तुझे सेब और संतरा चाहिए?". Maybe a more experienced Hindi learner can confirm?
क्या तुझे सेब और संतरा चाहिए? "Do you want an apple and an orange" that is a yes/no question, it's right. you can also say "kya tujhe seb ya santra chahiye" "do you want an apple or an orange" (this also is a yes/no question)
- 1525
I believe this is a trickier example. If what you mean to ask is whether the person wants to eat at all (whether am apple or an orange is secondary to the facet that they want to eat), then “kya” makes sense. If what you mean to ask is specifically which fruit they want to eat, then you should not use “kya”. There is such a case in one of the exercises.
Thank you for your erudite answer to the question I had also. You are the first one to dissect the problem and provide an intelligent solution -please accept a lingot, and thank you!
I agree. Most English speakers would say do you want an apple or orange. The spoken language is not as pedantic as the written form.
it is frustrating, as a native English speaker (and teacher), to correctly translate the Hindi and be marked wrong because I have omitted the word "an" which is neither in the Hindi nor required in English
Very rude when you are saying this to your elders or colleagues.. best way to say this would be आपको सेब चाहिए या संतरा?
