"Saya punya lima kilogram tembaga dan lima gram perak."

Translation:I have five kilograms of copper and five grams of silver.

June 7, 2019

4 Comments
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https://www.duolingo.com/profile/S9N1t

As I've done this exercise many times now, because its egg keeps cracking, I would like to request that you accept the abbreviations 5kg and 5g in the English translation.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/BenShaw495

I see where you are coming from. But that would mean they'd have to accept it in Indonesian too, because the abbreviation is the same and just as commonly used. Then it wouldn't be learning Indonesian su much as reduplicating abbreviations.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/wolfgang990987

Shouldn't measuring units like e.g. gram and kilogram be used in singular? 5 kilogram copper, 5 gram of silver


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/S9N1t

Native English speaker here: no, we need the plural. Also the word 'of' is required in speech. It might be dropped in writing, but only as an abbreviation.

What you might be thinking of is phrases like "I have a five-kilogram lump of copper", where yes, it becomes singular because it is adjectival. Other examples: a two-man race, a 60-ton boat, a 2-hectare field.

There is also a funny archaic way of saying for example "5 foot of rope" instead of 'feet' - but to say 'feet' is much more common - and I'm not sure what other phrases like that.

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