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- Topic: Spanish >
- "Es un polvo."
21 Comments
Yeah, if DL is trying to get us to prefer idiomatic translations over literal translations, they really should accept It is dust for this sentence.
Actually... it is correct but, no for dust... “Polvo“ refers to both dust (the most common usage) but also to “powder“ (not as common but common). In this sense... “Pepper is a powder“ is absolutely correct, thus “It's a powder.“ is a correct reply to the question “What is pepper?“
I totally agree with you breadicalmd! I've tried translating from Spanish literally several times and my answers were counted wrong. I thought of putting, "It is a powder" for this answer, but I thought duolingo would want how we say this in English instead. Gee whiz!
Well, actually in spanish you wouldn't say "es un polvo" to talk about dust. "Un polvo" means sex in a very informal way of speaking.
Example:
ellos echaron un polvo --- they had sex
Polvo (dust) is countless, so you can't talk about un polvo, dos polvos, tres polvos... unless you are talking about copulation..
Playing around on google translate, perhaps Es polvo = It is dust; Es un polvo = It is a powder. In context, describing something you see as "a powder" makes perfect sense.
I agree. I think you have to use the context of this translation to know that it is a powder, like face powder or baby powder, as opposed to dust.
polvo also means sex/one-night-stand. So a translation could also be "it is a one-night-stand."
Using the article, it could be a face powder, or a deodorant powder, or a wash powder, or a cleaning powder. I said "It is a powder" and that was accepted.
"It's dust" should be "Es polvo." 06/15/2014
poor enough, but i see it in its context and it helps to get the little things correct!
