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- "टमाटर सब्ज़ी नहीं होता है।"
29 Comments
1224
Collective plurals should also be accepted. “Tomatoes are not vegetables” would sound more natural in English.
- 1224
In the sentence I gave above, the word “tomatoes” is a collective noun. This means it represents a singular concept. In English, we might say, “A tomato is not a vegetable,” but it is more likely we would say, “tomatoes are not vegetables.” We would not say, “Tomato is not a vegetable” unless Tomato happened to be the name of our cat and we wanted to express that Tomato was indeed not a vegetable.
You are overthinking. Hindi is different from English. The idea is in the sentence the words सब्ज़ी and है are singular. There are other sentences where plural is used. It's basically getting you used to the differences in them.
If you feel the translation is in error, report it. But, this particular sentence is singular. Some may say "a tomato is not a vegetable". I think that's what you are missing. The word "a" is not necessary in Hindi.
- 1224
It’s good to know that the indefinite article is not necessary in Hindi; however, it is necessary in English and it has been left off here.
- 507
Thinking is not over thinking. The translation given as "correct" is not the best translation; and the best translation is being marked as incorrect. Whatever the purpose of this particular lesson, forcing English speakers to reject the best translation in favor of a poor one completely undermines that project. We are distracted from how singular is used in Hindi and focused on proper use of articles and plurals in English, which is aptly illustrated in these comments. The lesson is a failure.
- 218
People complaining about this sentence are only considering their own regional English dialects and/or limited knowledge of English.
To help English speakers overcome their regional bias here are 2 sites:
(1) word equivalents (based on acknowledged and accepted differences between, for example, US regional English and British regional English, but also the 'apparently' unacknowledged, unacceptable Indian regional English) https://www.immihelp.com/indian-english-american-english-language-dictionary/
(2) a very intelligent, sophisticated writing style, which uses "Tomato": https://www.indiaagronet.com/tomato/resources/1/1.htm
here is only one paragraph:
"Tomato is the world’s largest vegetable crop and known as protective food both because of its special nutritive value and also because of its wide spread production. Tomato is one of the most important vegetable crops cultivated for its fleshy fruits. Tomato is considered as important commercial and dietary vegetable crop. Botanical name of tomato is Lycopersicon esculemtun and belongs to family Lycopersicae. Tomato is protective supplementary food. As it is short duration crop and gives high yield, it is important from economic point of view and hence area under its cultivation is increasing day by day. Tomato is used in preserved products like ketch-up, sauce, chutney, soup, paste, puree etc."
- 653
That's what I thought...but then if it needs to be in the singular form to be accepted :
"A tomato isn't a vegetable" would still sound better imho.
I think this is one of those cases where the sentence does sound natural in Indian English, but does not in American English. In American English or would be far more typical to say "Tomatoes are not vegetables." Both ways should be accepted as correct answers.
Agreed. I put that and was marked wrong, but I agree that in a normal conversation, most would say "Tomatoes are not vegetables" as opposed to "Tomato is not a vegetable".
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Some ❤❤❤❤❤❤ part of me wants to argue with you, but I have nothing. You make an excellent point.
Yes, in the US they actually legally considered vegetables. It only really matters for tax purposes, though
- 218
People complaining about this sentence are only considering their own regional English dialects and/or limited knowledge of English.
To help English speakers overcome their regional bias here are 2 sites:
(1) word equivalents (based on acknowledged and accepted differences between, for example, US regional English and British regional English, but also the 'apparently' unacknowledged, unacceptable Indian regional English)
https://www.immihelp.com/indian-english-american-english-language-dictionary/
(2) a very intelligent, sophisticated writing style, which uses "Tomato": https://www.indiaagronet.com/tomato/resources/1/1.htm
here is only one paragraph:
"Tomato is the world’s largest vegetable crop and known as protective food both because of its special nutritive value and also because of its wide spread production. Tomato is one of the most important vegetable crops cultivated for its fleshy fruits. Tomato is considered as important commercial and dietary vegetable crop. Botanical name of tomato is Lycopersicon esculemtun and belongs to family Lycopersicae. Tomato is protective supplementary food. As it is short duration crop and gives high yield, it is important from economic point of view and hence area under its cultivation is increasing day by day. Tomato is used in preserved products like ketch-up, sauce, chutney, soup, paste, puree etc."
- 157
@marti_MG your dedication will take you far. Thanks for the links and mind-twist... is Regional English Bias a term applicable to other languages, too? I know that in italy Pasilolini had much to do with the anti-Fascist movement in promoting Italian dialects.
It is only a vegetable in the sense that fruits are vegetables. If you define vegetable in a way that excludes fruits then tomatoes, cucumbers, squashes, and peppers are not vegetables.
I have written The tomato is not a vegetable. This a translation keeping the singular form. Can this be correct? The translation given is not correct English. Surely both languages should be correct.
