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- "Where were we?"
"Where were we?"
Translation:Dove eravamo rimasti?
50 Comments
Dove eravamo stati" can be used when you are asking things like "Were have we been on holdiday?" You can use that form if you're asking for a phisical location. This form is used if you're asking "what were we talking about last time?"
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.
How does this work? Wouldn't this mean something like 'where had we remained?'?
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.
It just told me dove ci eravamo is wrong and gave the correct answer as - dove trovavamo. Can anyone explain this please?
"Dove ci trovavamo" is a form of the reflexive verb "trovarsi" (to be located, to be in/at).
That would literally mean, "where were we finding ourselves?". Functionally, this is the same as saying, "Where were we?" in a conversation or location.
"Dove eravamo noi?" What does it exactly mean? It was accepted though. .i am not fully satisfied with it
- 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?".
"Dove eravamo stati" - it's a literal translation and should be accepted. But it isn't.
- 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.
Maybe it's marked incorrect because "Dove eravamo" becomes "Dov'eravamo"
Interestingly, if you google for 'dove eravamo rimasti', you get 331,000 results. I f you google for 'dove eravamo noi?' my answer), you get 917,000. Anyway, it's not that important - duolingo is a good tool
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?'
Ooooh! Thank you. Sometimes i forget that all languages are as flexible and complicated as English.
Thank you, Igor. I was wondering why DL added "rimasti" to the translation. If I wasn't on my phone I'd send you a couple of lingots! Grazie molto!
- 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.
