"What are your daughters reading?"
Translation:O que suas filhas estão lendo?
15 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
1733
Can we not put the subject phrase suas filhas at the end? Reporting, and I hope it's added.
O que estao lendo suas flihas? is colloquial manner of expressing this, but it is not wrong.
- 1895
I think that a previous sentence had the "o que" at the end . Is this also a possibility?
Yes. It is more emphatic: Sua filhas estão lendo o quê? (note the accent)
Right, I had forgotten about that. But then the following is correct:
- O que as filhas de vocêS estão lendo?
The English sentence leaves open the question of the number of items of reading material that are involved. The Portuguese uses "O que". I got the impression this might mean the question would only work if the girls are sharing their book or whatever. Have I got that wrong?
Someone who asks that probably wants to know what kind of thing they're reading: comics, a scrapbook, novel, fairytale? Etc,..
Oh yes, the English question could ask that too. I don't think it's the first thing that comes to mind though (maybe the Portuguese version makes that interpretation the primary one). If I asked that question in English and was told "comics" I would feel a bit short-changed :-)
Thinking about it again, Paulo, you make a really excellent point. I was fixated on wanting the question "What are your daughters reading?" to be answered with more than just the type of reading material but something more like book titles and so on. Thanks for the different perspective.
Ohhh... but that can also be a possibility =) you can say the title... it just didnt come up to my mind.... as i imagined "daughters" as "little daughters". So i didnt think of a title of a book... :S
