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- "Eu peço que você fique calmo…
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Yes! I put "I request that you remain calm" which seems like it would be a perfectly good translation and it was marked wrong
You can use that.
"To calm down" is exactly "acalmar-se", but "ficar calmo" can be used for that too.
But this sentence "fique calmo" is quite ambiguous between the two possible meanings of ficar. (To become or to stay).
It seems difficult to tell when “ficar” means to stay as you were, or to get into a new state. Is there a way to know for sure?
Tricky question.....
It's about context, I think. About what you expect from "calm".
"Ficar" can only mean "become" for "charactersitics/states", so, this meaning does apply here. But it's dictionary meaning "to stay" can also apply in many cases if you have a proper context.
With many qualities that are not as dynamic as "calm", the "stay" meaning fades away. It get's somehow pointless or weird to use it.
Try it:
- She stays beautiful..... well.... why would you say that? It's not a bad sentence itself, but....when do you use it?
- They stay intelligent.... funny sentence
- They stay calm - Now this is a nice sentence to use in almost all cases.
To avoid the confusion, it's rare to see people using "ficar" for "to remain/stay" in these cases where it's not expected. People would mostly use "continuar" for that, so the sentence doesn't get misleading.
I translated this as "I'm asking that you stay calm," since we typically use the present continuous tense in English. Duo says I'm wrong. Am I really wrong, or is it a missing alternative translation? Obrigada!
In the previous unit there was another sentence with eu peço. I translated it as "I am asking" and my answer was accepted. As ABFoley says, we would be more likely to use this tense in English. However, here, in a construction that is basically the same, "I am asking" was marked wrong. True, the progressive tene is not used in Portuguese, but a good translation is not necessarily literal
It's causing me a problem as well. In reality "I'm asking you to remain calm" would be used or "I need you to remain calm" but that wasn't accepted, another translation could be "Can I ask you to remain calm?". "I ask you to remain calm" sounds really odd to my English ears, I use it because it is required. I'm commenting so that people that are learning English from Portuguese can see the real world translations.
In a formal situation it would not be unusual to hear "We ask that you remain calm." (subjunctive)
Yes using WE sounds like a common announcement like on the London Underground during bomb scare. But "I" is very direct and abrupt. Possibly a little impolite. I think this is why when using I and ASK together there will be another word like "All" "Only" "Just", "Can" or "Please"
“I’m asking you to stay calm” should be accepted and is a more natural way to say this in English. “I ask that you remain calm.” is correct, too, but it has a rather formal tone to it and I couldn’t imagine saying it outside of a very formal setting.
If I spoke to a lady, would I use CALMA or does it remain invariable?
Eu peço que você fique CALMA
- 576
is "calmo," an adjective, gender specific, such that if "voce" was female, would it be "calma," which is the noun?
