"As moedas se somam."
Translation:The coins add up.
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oh right. I took it to mean, for example, you do a job for someone and they pay you with a few coins, like 10 reais. Then you think, if you did 5 more jobs like the first one, you will get more coins for each job, put them together and the total will be bigger, so like 60 reais. You keep doing that and your total keeps getting bigger. Could it mean this, do you think?
HBKB:
"It all adds up" is what we would say after listing all the costs associated with normal living expenses while getting an education.
"By the time you pay tuition, room and board, and the books, it all adds up."
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it is not reflexixe, it is passive voice: as moedas se somam = as moedas são somadas. The usual is : Somam-se as moedas ( by someone), like Vendem-se casas (Casas são vendidas); Alugam-se apartamentos etc. I would like to know if the english sentence has a passive meaning too.
While reflexive verbs are common in Portuguese, it's not necessary to include "themselves" in the English translation. It's implicit.
As an English speaker, this makes sense to me. Looking at it as the passive voice. Like some people have suggested, you could well say something along the lines of 'it all adds up' to mean that each coin alone is not much, but when added together they make something greater. We have several phrases in English that capture this meaning, and that's how I would interpret this.
I think there is concern since "change" can mean so many things in English (but "mesmo" can mean so many things too, just in Portuguese).
Personally I think it should be accepted and have made the case on several of these Duo exercises but here's another appeal:
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/change
- [mass noun] Coins as opposed to banknotes. ‘a handful of loose change’
https://www.quora.com/Why-do-we-call-coins-change
The first recorded use of “change” to refer specifically to small coins is from 1679. A few decades before that, there is the first recorded use of “change” to refer to the excess balance that is returned in 1627.
While I can’t be certain, it appears that it is related to the phrase “in change” or, as it is phrased now, “in exchange”. Small coins became associated with the settling of transactions when they were received “in change” for any excess of payment.
It is also worth considering that the place where business transactions took place used to be called “the change”. This meaning is preserved in the term “stock exchange”.
The "ão" endings get stressed, while words with "am" endings are stressed on the second to last syllable.
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"As moedas somem" would be very different. Can this sentence be reflexive also? "As moedas se somem."
I am wondering if this is equivalent to what in Spanish would be called the reflexive substitute for the passive voice. It is normally used when the agent is not expressed. For example, " The doors are opened every day at 6:00 AM by the owner" would be "Las puertas son abiertas todos los días a las seis de la mañana por el dueño". However, if the agent (doer of the action) is not expressed, then it would be "Las puertas se abren todos los días a las seis de la mañana. That is what seems to be happening here.