"I'll buy your stuff for school on Monday."
Translation:J'achèterai tes affaires pour l'école lundi.
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738
Should the following be accepted? "J'achêterai tes affaires scolaires le lundi" (except that I used the wrong accent on the 'e', but I don't think that is why it was marked wrong.
Hello, I would say no. "Le lundi" written in this context refers to Monday of every week rather than a specific Monday. I don't really know how to explain it but maybe an example is more helpful:
J'ai natation le lundi = I have swimming on Mondays.
Je vais à la bibliothèque le lundi = I go to the library on Mondays.
Le lundi c'est mon jour de congé = Monday is my day off.
Whereas "ce lundi" means "this Monday", or here "on Monday". It's specific to a certain Monday and only includes that Monday, not the following ones. You don't have to put the "ce" in this sentence but it's still understood that we are talking about the upcoming Monday.
2011
Thanks, I realise now that I could have worded my question better. As I was trying to translate “stuff for school” with no more context to guide me and “truc” or “chose” have been usually accepted for “stuff”, I wondered what was different here? I agree completely incidentally on your description of the difference between “choses” and “affaires”.
Ah, I see. Not sure how Duo teaches "truc", but it is usually when talking about something when you either don't know the name of the actual item ("that thing/thingy") or don't want to be bothered saying the name of the item (this I would say is purely in familiar language and can be pejorative).
In "I'll buy your stuff for school", it's implied that the stuff will be your school supplies, so that's why "affaires" makes more sense in this context than using "choses" or "trucs" which are much more vague, even though technically either could be used in an actual conversation in this sentence (Duo might not accept it though). They aren't the ideal choice of word, but I've definitely heard plenty of people say it that way, so if you're worried about making that mistake I would say don't be, the distinction isn't crucial to the understanding of the sentence, people will understand what you mean and probably not even notice that you used "trucs" or "choses" instead of "affaires".
Not sure if this helps much, but maybe someone else has a better explanation for this one!
2011
Thanks again, Sitesurf once said that all the sentences are first written in French and then translated into American English, with other English variations added later. In the UK the use of “stuff” is discouraged in us as kids, whereas I guess it’s more common in the USA, so these back-translations don’t always come naturally. Anyhow, enough said and thanks again.