"Él es mesero y actor."
Translation:He is a waiter and an actor.
103 Comments
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He's not a real waiter, being a waiter and actor, sans article. He is just acting like a waiter. Whether he puts on a fine performance and acts like a good waiter or not, I don't know. But he is definitely not actually a good waiter or he wouldn't have to act like one. His main problem is his lack of an article. If he only had an article he could then be a waiter and an actor, both.
Anyone else think duolingo has a thing against actors? Between "the cops blame the actor" and "the actor is ugly"
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Leaving out the "an" changes the meaning. "He is a waiter and actor" implies that he has one job which entails both waiting and acting (maybe a cabaret show?) Whereas "He is a waiter and an actor", means he has two separate jobs/careers. I.e. Like most actors, he is not getting enough work, so he waits tables to supplement his acting income.
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i don't think they should penalise us for hour bad english grammer thats just to depressing. I'm trying two learn spanish hear people not lern how bad my english is. Dam it if i want two screw up another langwidge I will. edit:spelling
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This is another example of Duo choosing one particular (and for me previously unheard) word for something. I previously learned that "waiter" is "mesanero" or "camarero". I think that a good part of the Spanish speaking world does not use "mesero", so we should at least be presented with alternatives.
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I feel a little lost on this one. In Venezuela, I think my wife's family used mesonero. However I looked it up and found innkeeper, host, and landlord. In a small establishment a host or innkeeper could also be waiting tables. So I am not sure where we stand on this. Anyhow, at 2AM I don't think I will wake my wife to check with her. Where was your exposure to the word?
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Mesero was correct, mesonero was a typo. Mesero is correct everywhere in Latin America.
why is not "el es UN mesero"? directly translated it sounds like "he is waiter" I've seen lessons before that do this as well, but not all the time.
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Spanish does not use the article when simply stating professions / occupations. The exception is when you are modifying it with an adjective. Consider the following...
"Él es ingeniero" = "He is an engineer"
"Él es un buen ingeniero" = "He is a good engineer"
You can find more on when articles are not needed in Spanish here...
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/omitting-articles-in-spanish.html
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The reason it seems odd to you is because the language is Spanish. It is a mistake to expect to work like English.
knock knock knock Penny? knock knock knock Penny? knock knock knock Penny?
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I got it wrong because I did not type the "a" in front of waiter I thought I was learning Spanish here, not English
Why is un/una left out of these sentences sometimes yet we are expected to know that it's supposed to be there?
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Are spanish articles needed when describing jobs? In previous examples, saying, "él es un sacerdote" resulted in incorrect translations. In this lesson, I have already seen two forms of this sentence: one with articles saying, "él es un mesero y un actor," and one this one that does not possess any articles.
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Mesero/a is Latin American - I've never heard it used here in Spain, even by friends from that continent.
