"Are we men?"
Translation:Nós somos homens?
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Because when a word ends with "m" in singular, in plural it ends with "ns".
Examples (The word is in square brackets): 1. Singular: "Ele é [bom]" (He is good), plural: "Eles são [bons]" (They are good); 2. Singular: "Eu gosto do [som] do mar" (I like the [sound] of the sea), plural: "Eu gosto dos [sons] do carro" (I like the [sounds] of the car).
It's a portuguese rule when the word ends in "m" the plural is "ens" like: Bom= Bons Refem= Refens
It's like and English rule: f/fe becomes "ves" knife= knives
;) Hope I helped you Eu sou um falante nativo
Excuse I have question. In portuguese you only use one question mark as english?
Ok I get it I think so hahaha for example: ¿Nós somos homens? It's that correct?
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So... I can miss out the "Nos"......"We are men" and "Are we men?" is the same....it's the inflection that changes it? Just like French?
"We are men" and "Are we men?" is "Nós somos homens" in Portuguese. The only diference is that on "Are we men?" you have to put the "?" on the end.
I think you should be able to leave out the Nos, not sure if duo will consistently approve of it yet. The inflection should imply the pronoun.
Well, in Portuguese you can do that. But when talking about the difference between questions and statements, there are none except for the question mark.
Somos is used to we (We are good, nós somos bons) and são to vocês (you are good, vocês são bons)
how are questions constructed? for example, the sentence 'we are men' is nos somos homens and the question 'are we men' is the same thing except for the question mark 'nos somos homens' why doesn't the verb start like? (pardon the lack of accents)
In Portuguese, there is no change in word order. The difference is just the question mark and intonation.
It is an acute accent, which means that this letter has a different sound. So, yes, it affect the pronounciation. If you write "nos", it is a preposition (in the); Otherwise, if you write "nós", it is a pronoum (we)...
To explain the sound: "ó" has the sound of the "o" in "Hogwarts"; "é" has the sound of the "a" in "apple", or the "e" in "egg".
The "a" in "apple" and the "e" in "egg" have a different sound. The portuguese "é" sounds more similar to the "e" in "egg".
when you are talking about multiple, the "m" turns into a "ns". I don't know if this is in all cases, but with men yes.
Just a basic question. How do i get my keboard to place the accents, etc were they belong in words?
That depends on your computer. Here is some general advice: http://duolingo.wikia.com/wiki/Guide_to_keyboard_layouts_and_input_methods
If you are using a tablet, it is usually just a matter of keeping your finger on the button until a pop-up menu appears with accented characters,
Is it common in Portuguese to drop the pronoun like in Spanish? Saying "somos homens?"
In principle, "Eu", "Tu" and "Nós" can be dropped because their conjugations are generally unique. This discussion goes into more detail:
http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/brazilian-portuguese-not-pro-drop.2612237/
Also, any other can be dropped, provided the context makes it clear who is the subject/object.
Currently on Duolingo, simple sentences without a unique conjugation tend not to accept the omission.
There may be a difference between what is technically possible (i.e., drop when there is no risk of misunderstanding) and how people use pronouns in practice. My link mentions something that I've read in several other discussions, which is that spoken BP is becoming less pro-drop and a bit more like English.
Very interesting....
I'd say it depends on how good it sounds. Starting a sentence without "eu" might sound a little like a "headless creature". But repeating "eu" for every verb in the sentence would not be very common, for instance.
Subordinate clauses still seem to prefer not using the subject if the same as that of the main clause. (personal opinion based on memory)
- Ela disse que (ela) + verb --- this "ela" seems to make a "two-headed creature".
But I don't see any frowning upon the headless creatures yet.
Another thing I believe, based on pure "achismo" (slang: opinions without actual evidence):
Since Portuguese doen't seem to like much pure consonant sounds (1), probably people prefer to start the voice before starting the sentence, by using "eu, ele, a gente". Exception goes with "tu" and "(vo)cê", but "cê" starts flowing already.
(1) - You will notice Brazilians that are untrained in English saying things like "facebookee", "talkedj", "internetch". They add vowels (or what the vowel would sound in Portuguese) to those words because pure consonants sound weird to us.
See also words that lose their pure consonants, such as "contaCto", "óPtica", etc. We want to keep our voice sounding.
Other words like "pneu" and "pacto" will sound like "pineu" or "peneu" and "páquito".
One possible way to test this is watching for sentences that start with exploding consonants, either voiced and unvoiced, such as...
Unvoiced:
- P, T, Q/C (with "K" sound)
Voiced:
- B, D, G (in "Ga", "Gue", "Gui", "Go", "Gu").
Being explosive, they might dismiss the need for a starting vowel.
Good point. Possibly these sources are simply talking about a perceived lower uptake of the opportunities for dropping pronouns (the ones that may have traditionally been taken).
Why is "nos somos homens" a question and "nos somos mulheres" a statement? Please help :)
Sometimes the only difference between a question and a statement is the presence of a "?" at the end:
"Nós somos homens/mulheres" = "We are men/women".
"Nós somos homens/mulheres?" = "Are we men/women?".
Watch out for the "?" and you should be fine. In speech you listen for a rising tone at the end of the sentence which tells you that it's a question (Mrs Duolingo doesn't really make the distinction clear).
Sorry i have a question^_~ im not portuguese so i dont really know 'bout this but..it's homems?or homens?
