"اَلْمُعَلِّمة في بَيْروت."

Translation: The teacher is in Beirut.

[BillDe]

How can I tell the difference between the phrase "the teacher in Beirut" and the translation given here "the teacher is in Beirut"?

[_FiX_]

context and casing.

[900TH-STREAK]

Yes!

[M_Alrehaily]

As you said, "The teacher in Beirut" is a phrase, not a complete sentence. So it would be grammatically wrong had it been written alone. However, "The teacher is in Beirut" is a complete sentence.

[BillDe]

However: In teaching Arabic (and all other languages) duolingo often gives us phrases to translate, not only complete sentences. If the exercise said "translate the complete sentence" I would know the answer, but I have never seen that anywhere in duolingo.

Does anyone have a better answer?

[notpeanut]

I think the period means it's supposed to be a complete sentence. I haven't noticed whether this course is consistent about that though.

[BillDe]

I never noticed it either, and it certainly isn't a standard on other duolingo languages, but I have seen a few more cases since your comment that seem to confirm your idea.

Thanks for the catch! Great observations!!

[Rho554733]

Spelling error only.

[8dexgqAn]

You never specified a verb in the Arabic sentence...so, why putting an error?

[phuvtuo]

If you read the lesson notes in previous lessons, Arabic like several other languages does not use a copula verb for sentences like this.

[Djibril487949]

But still, as per the other thread on this exercise, this could equally well be a phrase or sentence fragment, rather than a complete sentence, so I suspect OP's attempted answer was not strictly incorrect.

[MichelleDa878143]

If there's a period in the Arabic sentence, it needs to be a complete sentence in English. If there's no period in the Arabic sentence, then it's just a phrase.

[Tee_ana]

Why DUOLINGO do this to me