42 Comments
Are sabado and domingo masculine, and segunda/terca/quarta/quinta/sexta feminine?
It would be nice if they would give you a heads up for something like that (dropping feiras) I don't doubt that it is common in Portuguese but how do they expect us to get it (especially when the roll over doesn't give the right answer)
The hovering translation now does give 'Monday' as an answer, november 2014. Just to let everybody know... :-)
I think so too! Sometimes the hints are more misleading than helpful =(
what if you mean "I don't work in seconds", as in you don't use it as a way of measuring time :P ?
If you're asking whether this sentence could be confused with your meaning, then I don't think so because the unit of time is "segundo" not "segunda".
My understanding is that only "segundo" means second (one sixtieth of a minute) and is based on dictionary definitions such as this one: http://www.priberam.pt/dlpo/segunda
It would be helpful if you could explain why you believe what you say is true.
Why could the translation be : I do not work in seconds. (Meaning frustration when asked to do something) Since that was a hint given.
Mmmm ... "segunda" does mean second although not in the sense of a unit of time (that's "segundo") but in the sense of an ordinal number: first, second, third, etc.
I see what you mean and you're right it is misleading. I tried to find a justification for that hint but mostly failed. The best I could come up with is that in Brazilian Portuguese "de segunda" means "of inferior quality" and in English we might call such things "seconds". I don't know much about music, but apparently an interval spanning two consecutive notes in a diatonic scale is called a "second" in English and a "segunda" in Portuguese. I guess it is just a bad hint though.
[Edit: The hint has been altered since I made this comment.]
maybe you can change the expression to segunda-feira, then there should not be such a confusion!?
I am just a user, I can't change anything directly, but I encourage you to use the report problem button, as I do every so often, to tell Duolingo's Portuguese team about these issues.
I think, despite the annoyance of ambiguity, that it is good that Duolingo uses colloquial speech, and that one has to figure it out for themselves instead of relying on a hint - provides a little immersion ;)
I also think it can be helpful, as long as there is a resource at hand. Needing to go to a forum and wait for an answer might not be ideal, though in my case - since I'm looking at all this years after the rest of you - many of you have answered the questions in the forum. Still, I like the Russian units because they offer explanations up front, before the lesson begins, of certain concepts that will be introduced, when there are exceptions, etc. It's an easy reference point that doesn't require you to go looking for outside resources.
I put I do not work the seconds as it could be used as a response to the question which shifts don't you work?
eu nao trabalho nas sabatos = i do not roll on sabbaths ( big lebowski in portugeuse)
Do you mean you saw a translation using the English word "second"? That would be odd.
In Portuguese the days of the week, apart from Saturday and Sunday, are simply numbered with Sunday notionally the first day making Monday the second day. (That's a bit of a simplification, but you can find more about this issue by reading MelinaArins contribution to this discussion: https://www.duolingo.com/comment/8894981 )
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I can see the point raised by many about the distinction between seconds and Mondays; however, the Portuguese translation for the plural of the English word "second" is "segundos", whilst the Portuguese translation for Monday is "segundas", which provides a clear distinction between the two.
In english you don't add "the" to days and months. Also when a word has relevance you don't need to add "the". For instance: your book.
In general if you want to write "in/on the" you use one of "em + o/os/a/as" = "no/nos/na/nas" where the choice depends on the number and gender of the following word. In this case that word is "segundas-feiras" which is feminine-plural so you choose "nas" here. Or do you mean when is the article necessary?
