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- "Where were we?"
"Where were we?"
Translation:Dove eravamo rimasti?
50 Comments
561
I still don't see why "Where were we?" can't also mean "What was our location?", although it probably usually means what you said. Wouldn't it depend on the context?
231
He just told you why it can't also mean "where was our location". Using "rimasto" refers to where you left off in a conversation, using "stato" refers to physical location.
Yeah, this is a bit gratuitous, "Dove eravamo?" would work just as well. I think the point duolingo is trying to make is that "rimanere" in the Italian usage doesn't always equate "remain" in English. In this instance the scenario can be that the speaker and someone else were distracted while they were doing something: in English "where had we remained?" wouldn't match the situation, while "dove eravamo rimasti" means something like "where did we stop?", "where were we?".
444
Perhaps Duo will evolve its program in a way that eventually presents context. There is no way of knowing that their sentence means "Where were we in a conversation," and not "What house were we in last Thursday." It's extremely frustrating, and totally non-conducive to learning.
561
If I understood it correctly, when the auxiliary verb is essere, the participle has to agree with the gender and the number of the subject, so I think it would be correct to say "Dove siamo stati?".
561
The two meanings of "ci" I know of are "us" and "there" (or "to there", this second meaning is a bit more complex). But neither of them seem to fit here.
I just discovered the reason for the whole confusion: http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=2242920 'Dove eravamo' rimasti means 'where were we', but not in the sense of a physical location, but , for example, when you were interrupted during some activity, and then returning to it you would say, "ok, where was I" or "where were we?'
599
Thank you! I was looking though the discussion because I thought the English expression "where were we" is used commonly to return to the subject after a digression (for example during a classroom lecture) which is exactly the case you mentioned. I would never have guessed that Italian was idiomatic in the same way.