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- "The city has a population of…
"The city has a population of two million people."
Translation:La città ha una popolazione di due milioni di abitanti.
215 Comments
If duo wanted inhabitants, they should have stated the sentence with that word, not with "people". We can't guess what they might be looking for.
Yes, I agree. I'm not even going to look lower down at the other comments. Why? Because an Italian person agrees with me. Simple
Also, I would add that if DL want to teach people properly (their marketing says that their's is the best learning platform in the world - that is subjective) then they should be far more efficient in making clear the alternative words possible in a given sentence; if they are after a particular word, which would be fine but sometimes counter-productive, they certainly should not be marking wrong perfectly acceptable alternative words. And I am not saying that because of this particular question; DL do this type of thing a lot.
I agree with you. I think you have to look more at the context of the sentence. When there is more than one choice, it should not be said that it is wrong. before they updated this format, they would put a suggestion when they gave the answer. They would say you can also say it this way. Then they would put a suggestion when giving the answer. They would say, you can also say it this way, and you would know that you have alternative ways of saying things, instead of being told that it is incorrect.
It's free. Try to be less negative. If you don't like it you can go to another platform.
Malcom626174 there's no excuse for bad teaching. In case you didn't know, you get the same sentences if you pay.
actually it is not free if you use plus, also it has nothing to do with being free or not, if something is wrong it is wrong no matter if it is free or not.
The issue here is that the sentence that needs to be translated says people and the want it to be changed to inhabitant and those two words are different.
I agree with Jim813529 - I am a paying student and I have exactly the same issues - in fact I am indeed considering trying another platform
not helpful. it may be free but that does not mean it has a commitment to be irritating and unclear.
I know lots of people may disagree, but Malcolm has a point. I think that although DL has issues with some of their sentences, IT IS FREE, and I don't think plus advertises absolutely perfect lessons. Like most, I also get frustrated at times because of sentences like this, but I personally think that despite the errors every now and again, DL is a decent learning website. Things just aren't going to be perfect 24/7.
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I agree, - but at the same time there are several synonymes to "people"and some flexibility in the translation should be allowed.
La città ha una popolazione di due milioni di persone/gente/abitanti
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Even though inhabitants and residents are synonyms, residents can also be animals or even plants. Therefore the translation "abitanti"will best describe the population of a city.
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We would never use the word "residents" for plants, and only for animals if you were talking about a cattery or dog kennels - but usually not even then. Residents usually refer to people who live somewhere - in a city, in a block of flats or whatever
And in a previous sentence to be translated into English Duo used 'due milioni persone' so why mark it wrong now? This does not make sense
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When you count the population of your neighborhood/area/city/state/country, do you count visitors? No. So here "abitanti" is correct as much as "persone" is.
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I think whenever you use milione\milioni it's followed by a "di". I think it's just a little quirk if italian grammar. Can anyone verify this?
If there is obviously a problem, why don't they change it? Why are we encouraged to comment if nobody pays any attention to it?
I have found the best way to send an email to Duolingo. Take screenshots of both the problem and the comments here and construct a solid case why it should be changed. Best success:-)
That is a lot of work considering how often we run into these weird problems, but maybe that is what we have to do in order to get attention to an issue. Why have a reporting button if they ignore it?!!
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This is totally a trick question and it's unfair. In similar questions on Duolingo, if you'd checked "inhabitants" you'd have been failed, because "inhabitants" is a different word than "people" They should be more consistent!!
Yes, the course data is inconsistent here. A big source of frustration for me.
I believe that "people" includes visitors and tourists while "inhabitants" are those who actually live in the city
That would be rather weird. "Population" means people who permanently live in the city - the inhabitants, as you say. Visitors, guests, whatever are never counted into that number.
I agree. Part of Duolingo's strategy is to annoy its users. But aside from that they're often just incompetent. There may be some science behind the strategy but in time it will count against them.
I having difficulty remembering what the issue was here, though I was annoyed by it at the time. Now (December 2013) both abitanti and persone are accepted as correct.
12/13/2019 Here's the cut and paste of what I wrote:
La città ha una popolazione di due milione di persone.
What am I doing wrong?
I would also like to hear an answer to your question. Why the need for two "di" ???
According to Reverso, either with or without are acceptable. See: https://mobile-dictionary.reverso.net/english-italian/a%20city%20of%20two%20million%20persons
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I checked people and was marked wrong. The sentence says people, not inhabitants. Tricky question.
We say "two million of habitants" or "due milioni di abitanti" like you would say you have "two million of them" Sorry the confusing translation! I know that in the English nobody would say that "I have five of cars" but thats how we do it in this scenario.
Why does the Italian to English use persone then the English to Italian insist on abitanti?
That's more to describe The People, rather than the folk who live there. It would be used like, the people have decided and the result was conclusive. I don't think I'm explaining it very well! Sorry!
What about "persone" does it work in this sentence? Or is this just a fixed expression that whenever you describe the people living in a city you use "abitanti" and it would sound odd to use another noun?
I put 'persone' and it was marked as wrong even though the same sentence, in Italian, used previously translated 'people' as 'persone'... at least it makes you think and read the discussion
Could somebody please step in and tell me why you have to say di abitanti? What's the di doing there ..? I honestly don't get this.
I'm rather new to Italian, but just a thought: In English we would say, "two cups OF apples", but we also say, "two million apples." So maybe the better question is why is English so inconsistent?!
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In the phrase "two cups of apples" you're counting the cups, not the apples, so it's actually the same
You put persone in the sample box and then you want abitanti which wasn't there. Fed up with this sort of thing.
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For me, this item was problematic because I have not yet been introduced to "abitanti." I double checked my list of "words." It alphabetically lists "abbigliamento," "abiti" and "abito" but no "abitanti."
It no longer accepts di persone, which i feel it should. I feel like it has phrased it exactly like that before.
Could someone please explain why we need "di" before abitanti? The end of this sentence seems to read "...of two million of inhabitants." I'm sure I'll eventually remember this, but it helps to understand why. :)
Where in the Italian sentence says inhabitants, residents or citizens? It is really annoying when you are trying to learn and there is a program that confuses you. Here there is a good free page to learn Italian: https://onlineitalianclub.com/index-of-italian-listening-comprehension-exercises/
This is too confusing to follow and continually getting it wrong just makes me leave the lesson.
People include visitors and tourists. Inhabitants are those who actually live in the city
People include visitors and tourists. Inhabitants are those who actually live in the city
People include visitors and tourists. Inhabitants are those who actually live in the city
So 'La ciità ha due millione abitanti' shpuld also be acceptable, by the same logic (inhabitants is synonymous with population).
Splitting hairs here, but wouldn't it be 'due milioni' with an i?
My real question is not on the correctness of inhabitants or people, but on translating from English to Italian (I didn't get this as a multiple choice question). I used people and DL said the correct answer was "...di due milioni di persone". Why the 2nd DI before persone? Can anyone please explain? Grazie
I bet if I was given the Italian sentence above and asked to translate into Italian translating "abitanti" as people instead of residents or inhabitants would be marked as incorrect.
Yes, I would agree...I thought 'abitanti' means 'inhabitants',not 'people'? Could a native Italian shred some light on this, please !!!
Just one more example of where using the hints as a learning aid, leads you up the garden path.
I guess Italians use "abitanti" here instead of gente or persone. Duolingo is free, so I can't really complain too much. Overall, I have learned much more than I have been confused by... hopefully that is the same for most people ("gente", not "abitanti" lol).
as with others below, now DL says "persone" is wrong yet previously it was accepted. Inconsistency is one of the most consistent things of DL!!
Probably because it has to be "una popolazione" because it is feminin. And "milioni" only has one "l", also would you need "di gente" and not only "gente". ;)
DL - Why did YOU use "persone" when looking for a "correct sentence", yet now, mark it wrong when I use the same word in my translation to ITalian!!!!
Why is "di abitanti" necessary? The word population implies people. You would only need to modify it if you were talking about something other than people , for example rats.
You could learn something more about this "problem", if you looked up the "partitive articles" in Italian. You do not have them in the English language, but in French and Italian for sure. :)
Please note that persona and inhabitant are not synonyms. Would any one please comment on this?
I was afraid to mark as correct both popolazione and abitanti. Sometimes Duolingo is very exacting with terms, other times not. Maybe because we're talking about population counts in this sentence, popolazione and abitanti would be equivalent, where in another sentence having to do with housing or such the difference in the terms would be more significant. I don't know. At least Duolingo gives you multiple times to get it right. You just have to remember what you did wrong the last time. I'm not complaining about getting a lot of repetition. It could be that the stress this causes help us to learn better, eh?
I understand I messed up on one word but shouldn't it also be "milione" like Duo taught me?
In English we say 'two million', but Italians basically say 'two millions', so milioni (the plural of milione since there is more than 1 million).
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How can one give the right answer if the right word was missing from the options? In the first instance it was 'ha', and the second - 'cita' was missing?
I don't see any native Italian speakers weighing in on this one so I'm going to guess that they don't think it's that big a deal. Let's give ourselves sometime to figure it all out :)
the answer pad was missing a second "di" I am getting irritated at not being able to write the correct answer simply because the word is not included in the answer cards.
I have found that the "missing words" are usually just below the visible area. If you click in the vicinity of possible words below, they pop up. If there is more than one hidden, use trial and error.
trick question here!!! They ask for "people" - "persone" should be accepted!! Of course they are inhabitants, but inhabitants of what?? Rats, mice, dogs. NO, of course it is people "persone". If they want the word "abitanti", they should ask for "inhabitants" or just accept "persone" as an alternative correct response.
Inhabitants is the wrong word in this context. The sentence referred to people, some of whom could be transient workers living in the city during census time.
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Why is this not accepted: "la città ha una popolazione di due milione persone". Abitanti are inhabitants and not given as an alternative in the hover over drop down. Inconsistency yet again
This issue should be cleared. Why does people translate to inhabitants?
As long as one has written the sentence without any mistakes DUO will accept "persone" as well as "abitanti". I had a few tries ! ;)
Yes, but it's confusing. DL shows the right answer, but not the mistake. People see "abitanti" and deduce that is what's wrong.
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in the general context of this sentence the translation of people should be "abitanti" because it is referring to the population of the city.
Have i missed it but noone has answered the question as to why there are two "di"s, particularly why the second one?
- Needless repetition. A population is by definition made up of people, so no need to say it.
- Two million people can be translated as "due million di persone."
To come to the point,look people-i am one you are one that makes two so are we abitanti ? or persone? or perhaps both I hope that clears it su per tu me loro. Inhabitants? or (people)? like is what they wrote on the question-but who am I to correct the learned inhabitants that gives me,us the Italian language for free,Ho erudito qualcosa-Ho penso,why did,nt they write inhabitants-I would then find the translation too that word.I find it is not solo in the Italian speak,Italian prevaricates.We will prevail,folks ps hope you don,t mind my rant,
I wtote down the correct answer the last time i had this sentence and now they wan abitanti instead of persone...way to confuse us duo :(
I used 'persone' instead of 'abitanti' and told it was wrong!!! In other part of lesson, it was absolutely fine!
4/1/2020 "Persone" still not accepted. Flagged it as ought to be accepted.
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This confused me at first. Maybe Duo changed it since your comment, but #1 has "uno" and #3 has "un".
Reported the error in the multiple choice. Both #1 and #3 are exactly the same, but only #1 is accepted as correct.
They are not the same on my page. #1 has "di" before "persone". I wish I knew why it needs it.
They are totally identical on my page, both with "di" before "persone".
I totally agree. First I did mark #1 and #3 and got incorrect, then I chose #1 and got incorrect again.
So why does it give three identical answers in only accept one of them?
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What happened?! I just got to select from among 3 identical responses (yup, I checked thoroughly, letter by letter). So, I checked all 3. Right: marked wrong, with an identical (4th) correct answer popping up. Hey, Duo...???
why not "popoli" after all the question was translate into Italian the following"......two million people"
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That doesn't make any sense. It says people, not inhabitants. Inhabitants doesn't mean the same thing as (generic) people it means a specific set of people (they live there). The former could include living and/or working there.
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This looks like a deliberate trap to make you remember both. I find them infuriating when trying to fit my learning into a busy day.
'due milioni di persone' is not accepted!!! actually it is excatly the translation and meaning given
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Finally, "la città ha una popolazione di due milioni di persone" was accepted on April 9, 2020.
The problem with this new format is that there are no buttons underneath to allow me to write citta with the appropriate accent so I have to put up with a nag about missing an accent that I knew should be there.
Why ‘ d’abitanti ‘ is incorrect ?! Di abitanti - 2 vowels at the beginning of each word, so di should become d’ , no ? I’m so confused with this rule ? Please enlighten me !
Why isn't "la citta ha una popolazione di due milioni di persone" not accepted?
Totally agree just confusing what they want if want inhabitants should at least been in drop down options
how about cluing us in to "di abitanti" first, duolingo? throw me a drop down hint already!
Sometimes I feel that answers are not prepared by experts. People and abitanti?? Inverse translation is : popolo and habitants
I think you should accept: "La città a una popolazione di due milioni di persone"
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This topic has now been open to argument for 7 years. How much longer before Duolingo puts things in order.
".......two million people", not "inhabitants", not "citizens", not "occupants"
The various synonyms might mean the same to some people but they are not what is written in the clue.
People = persone oppure gentile inhabitants = abitini citizens = cittadini occupants = occupanti residents = residenti
"La città ha una popolazione di due millione persone" team duo...could you plz tell me what is wrong with this response?
Abitanti is not even a hint in this one! Not accepting persone or gente is ridiculous!
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Agreed! It's a bit mean to insist on a word that's not mentioned in the drop-down hints. I used 'persone' but was marked wrong for accidentally adding a second 'l' in 'milione' which should have been allowed as a 'typo'.
the question asked for a translation of 'people' not 'inhabitants', therefore the correct translation is the one I have given, i.e.'persone'
The singular of milioni is milione. Italian nouns that end in e pluralize with an i. Examples:
lo scultore (the sculptor) becomes gli scultori (the sculptors) l'attore (the actor) becomes gli attori (the actors)
In general:
nouns that end in -o or -i become plural nouns that end in -i nouns that end in -a become plural nouns that end in -e
The articles preceding the nouns change similarly as well.
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Michaelangelo! Bernini! Pavarotti! Rossi! Schillaci! Your Boys Took One Hell Of A Beating!! Ha Ha! Finally Finished This Section!
I cannot see any error in my last two answers so I shall have to leave this lesson .
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the question asks how many people ? Persone. Abitanti means inhabitants. Why is persone marked wrong ?
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"Di abitani" has not been in any lessons yet. Through etymology, I assume it means "people who live there" or some such. I said "due milioni di persone", is that not appropriate in this context?
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The hint mention three words for 'people' and "abitanti" is not one of them. What gives?
I agree that the word is misleading and could be easily substituted without changing the meaning of the sentence
Who knew Duo wanted inhabitants not people. Impossible to have guessed.
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Has anyone else have the issue that this is marked as incorrect even though I've put in the exact answer requested? It's impossible to finish the lesson or get credit for completing the rest of it.
Why is “un milione d'abitanti” not accepted, only “un milione di abitanti”? Especially when “un milione d’amici” and “un milione di amici” are both accepted. Are these not parallel cases, and if not, why?
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People complain about their personal translation of a word not being accepted by DL and also complain about DLs translation being too different from the Italian. It's unrealistic to expect every conceivable translation to be covered. In person teaching is the only way to cover all bases, where there's a person fluent in both Italian and your native language who can adequately answer these questions.
If you're looking for "abitanti" put inhabitants in the clue. It's deliberately misleading.
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In English we probably wouldn't say either people or inhabitants. A population of two million implies people, we wouldn't specify unless we meant a population of something else (cats, rats dogs, sparrows).
in this case (persone e la traduzione letterale) abitanti in English is inhabitants. So......
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Sorry you translat people as persone before and now i translat it the same you put it abitanti.....!
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If you wanted the Italian word for inhabitants in this sentence, why not use the word?
The drop down suggestions were nohelp at all. Just helped me get it wrong, by telling me the wrong word.
Abitanti doesnt mean people, it means inhabitants. So! The statement was misleading, and I got it wrong, because I translated it as, persone. Which should correct.
