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- "As gatas não gostam da água."
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Yes! But this means that "the cats don't like water", in other words, water is a kind of thing that they don't like (for example: "as gatas não gostam de água quente" = hot water is a kind of thing they don't like).
"As gatas não gostam da água" can mean this, but can also mean that they don't like a specific water (for example, when you put warm water in their water bowl and they don't want to drink it: "as gatas não gostaram da água" - only notice that this last sentence is in past tense). (I'm not a native English speaker, so don't hesitate to correct any error in my text if there's one)
The only minor problem is that it should be "IN their water bowl", not "ON their water bowl". Those darn prepositions :) Good job, I hope someday I'll be as good in Portuguese as you are in English!
Yeah, prepositions are one of the most annoying parts of English to me :D Thanks and good luck with your learning!
I'm confused, why does this have "da" and previously all the sentences with "gostam" have used "de" in its place? Can you use both, or is there a subtly different meaning, or different situations in which they're used?
I would bet you are far beyond the need for this answer but a lot of others are still questioning so I will answer you for their benefit. :)
Gostar as a verb requires, "de" as a preposition kind of like English "wait" needs "for" or needs to be changed to "await" instead. So now we know that the sentence must include "gostam de" (plural 3rd Person conjugation to agree with "cats/gatas").
But since we are being particular about what water (perhaps tap water with high chlorine, or water we have put their vitamins in), then we add, "a" in Portuguese to agree with the feminine "the" of áqua. That makes the sentence, "As gatas não gostam de a água." which is awkward with all those vowels including two the same bumping around against each other.
That is perhaps one reason that Portuguese requires contractions (and is exactly what this exercise lesson is trying to teach) for de + a to make, "da" as a combo word.
That is the feminine (to agree with "água" not "gata").
The masculine is "do" (de + o).
In other exercises we learn that "pensar" (to think) also requires a preposition which is "em" (usually translated to "in/on") which contracts with "the" to form, "na and "no" (which usually means, "in the" or "on the" but sometimes means, "of the" or "from the" (and "at the" on occasion) since "de" preposition does not go with "pensar").
Hope that was clear. :)
Thank you. I never would have figured that out on my own other than memorization and some guessing. Your explanation now makes this make sense! Thanks, again.
Thanks, you're right, I had figured this out on my own, but thank you for the explanation, it is very clear and I hope it will help others!
Isn't "The cats do not like THE water" a correct translation also? Surely "The cats do not like water" would be better translated as "As gatas não gostam DE leite" Or am I completely wrong?
You're right (just a small mistake: i think you meant "água" when you typed leite) ;)
If we meanf to say "The cats do not like water", shouldn't it be "de" instead of "da"?
So just to clarify, the alternative answer proposed by Duolingo "do not like water" (without The) is wrong?
Scutigera gave an excellent answer to cazort's question above: https://www.duolingo.com/comment/506965$comment_id=13782047
AlejandroC150367 20 14 13 11 10 730 Agua e feminino. O artigo 'el' se escreve quando a palavra feminina começa com 'a' tónica. Por isso é 'el agua'. Mas o plural é 'las aguas'. Outros exemplos: el agua es limpia, el agua fria. Abraço !!
Is it "da" because it is talking about a certain water? I think someone in another post said that it used "do/da/das/dos" because of a certain thing. I like cats. (General) vs I like the cats. (Specific)
You're right. That's why I'd use "... de água" here since this sentence is about a general truth.
"does" is used for third singular person, "do" is used for third plural person.
How would you say Cats don't like water. Could you just remove the definite artkicle 'As'?
because it is "the water" not just water in general but specific water. Cats do like water, just not the water at your place (for instance).
Therefore your answer needs to be "da água" not "de água".
You can see my other comment on this thread if you are wondering why...
It happens occasionally, but not too often for any one users. I think it has to do with distortion or corruption of data over the internet. But be aware of it. It might also give you some other accepted answer, making you think some detail of your answer was wrong when it wasn't. But it may not happen to you again for a while.
