"Siamo gravemente in difficoltà."
Translation:We are in serious difficulty.
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I wrote that as was graded wrong. I think it is a better translation as gravemente is an adverb so should temper the verb. The translation above uses serious as an adjective. What kind of trouble, serious trouble.
I was trying to find a different way of saying this in English and drew a blank... thanks xD
I think your translation is correct and duolingo's is not. "Siamo in difficoltà gravi" is the right Italian for their phrase.
Sure! Eppure, in the translation of DL - serious difficulty - that also happens, don't you think so? ( Sorry my poor English. I'm learning it too...)
I wrote "in serious difficulties", because I don't think anybody would use this in the singular. It was not accepted. What do others say?
I agree. 'Difficoltà' is either singular or plural so why does DL reject 'difficulties'?
American English speaker here: "in serious difficulty" sounds (a lot) more natural to me.
Most people say this now with the possible exception of a Prime Minister who probably would not know.
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I agree the translation should be we are seriously in difficulty. We are in serious difficulty is not quite the same.
Gravemente = seriously, not serious.
Why is the sentence in a unit about adverbs if they are not using it that way?
In American English I would say "We are having/experiencing great/serious difficulty." Or "We are in serious/deep trouble."
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And in Australian and New Zealand English we might say "deep trouble" too, but it looks as though DL finds it too colloquial.
"We are seriously in difficulty." DL offers this translation, but is doesn't sound right to me. Could some english speaker help me? Is this grammatically correct in english?
It is grammatically correct, and I am sure that any native English speaker would understand, but you are correct in saying that it does not sound (quite) right. I think English speakers would say "We are in serious difficulty" or, even more likely, "We are having serious difficulties" Alternatively, if there were any doubt "Seriously, we are in difficulty".
Eugenia. English speaker here. "We are seriously in difficulty" sounds stupid to me too. :-) "We are in serious trouble/difficulty" sounds better, I think.
Yes (even though it is far from the most likely thing to be said), and it was accepted for me.
"We are seriously in difficulty (or, trouble)." and "We are in serious difficulty (or, trouble)." have two different meanings. In the first, I am really serious about the fact that we are in trouble. In the second, I am stating a fact the the trouble we are in is, itself, very serious (has great consequences). Since this is lesson on adverbs, it would seem that only the first of the above translations makes sense.
serious difficulty is an egzample of adjective usage. DL put it in the wrong lesson
Why not translate this using the adverb seriously (as in the Italian) and not the adjective serious?
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Something is wrong with the way the sentence is being translated. The first time I translated "We are in serious difficulty"; I wrote: Siamo in gravemente difficolta" and was marked wrong and was advised that "Siamo in seria difficolta" was corrected. Now the same sentence is being translated as "Siamo in gravemente difficolta".
As a native American English speaker, I would never say we are in difficulty of any degree serious or otherwise.
You can be in trouble or in distress, but you experience, endure, know, or have difficulty. Those are a few examples that would be appropriate for the phrase serious difficulty.
Can anyone let us know if the Italian sentence is equally as poor a sentence as the English?
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in italian languare "We are in serious difficulty" is different from "We are seriously in troubles"
It'not correct: we are seriously in difficulties. has a slightly different