"I will have loved you all my life."

Translation: Eu terei amado você minha vida toda.

[erudis]

Duolingo's translation sounds very colloquial, but I guess it's not wrong. I would've translated it as:

• Eu terei te amado por toda a minha vida.
• Eu terei amado você por toda a minha vida.

The "a" is optional, but if you put "toda" before "minha vida", I would advise to use "por", otherwise it sounds a bit strange.

[Davu]

Is Duolingo correct in rejecting "Eu terei amado você toda minha vida"? I can feel my confidence ebbing away.

[WesleyAlcoforado]

ha ha ha ha ha

Don't feel like that. In my point of view, if it accepts "minha vida toda" it should accept "toda minha vida". Although I have to say that I think the most correct would be "a minha vida toda" and "toda a minha vida".

At least in Brazilian Portuguese, the presence of the article changes the meaning of the sentence a lot.

• Eu vou trabalhar todo dia - I go to work every day
• Eu trabalho todo o dia - I work all day
• Eu trabalho o dia todo - I work all day

As you can see, todo o dia and o dia todo are interchangeable. So, if you have loved her all your life, it should be, in Portuguese, eu a amei a minha vida toda (or eu a amei toda a minha vida).

IMO, Duolingo's answer is understandable (as yours), but to my ears (and eyes) it lacks something. Nevertheless a lot of people would not notice this (and I'm talking about native people).

The problem is that as "toda minha vida" and "toda a minha vida" sound very very very similar ( the A in the end of toda "glues" to the article a ), many people think there is no article there. But when you analyse similar constructions ( as todo o dia vs. todo dia ), people know this difference.

[WesleyAlcoforado]

Just to complement, to my ears minha vida toda will always be understood as a minha vida toda (I will subconsciously put the article in there), but toda minha vida, if I stop to analyse it a little, could be understood as if you had many lives, and in each of them, you loved her. Obviously I discard this meaning because it makes makes less sense. But since I am spiritist and I believe in reincarnation, I would accept it if you really mean that.

[Davu]

Thank you wesleyjefferson and erudis for your great information. I did search on a Portuguese language corpus to reassure myself and there were a number of hits for "toda minha vida":

http://www.linguee.com/english-portuguese/search?source=auto\="toda+minha+vida"

(I'm sorry but I can't get that URL to paste properly, please enter the search term "toda minha vida" manually including the quotes).

Perhaps the context in which the phrase is used is very different to this one or are some of those entries very strange? Many thanks again.

[erudis]

As you can see, it's commonly used with a preposition (por, em, durante), although it's acceptable without one (that happens mostly at the beginning of sentences). About the article, you can drop it and the meaning is still the same, but people usually keep it..

[WesleyAlcoforado]

I don't agree with you.

[erudis]

The use of a definite article before a possessive, when followed by a noun, is always optional in Portuguese. Because of personal preferences in speech, there can be nuances in the meanings, like the one you pointed out (although I wouldn't interpret it the way you did), since the definite article, obviously, defines the noun, but still, it's not wrong.

[WesleyAlcoforado]

Oh, ok, now I agree. :)

But just to make it clear to too_late, it is optional only when it is a possessive followed by a noun, which is the case of his sentence. In my other examples the article does change the meaning.

[WesleyAlcoforado]

I don't think the context is different. As I explained before, the A is not optional. It can be forgotten, but it should be there.