62 Comments
And in typing the English, you have to demonstrate that you know how to use the apostrophe properly! Here's a refresher for anyone who needs it.
I did exactly that and it said I was "almost correct", and the default correct answer is "We like the restaurants food", a grammatically incorrect sentence in English. But then, as another correct solution, it gives my answer verbatim: "We like the restaurants' food".
Came here to check on this to see if it needed reporting but clearly everyone is well ahead of me! This is a great course!
The restaurant doesn't own it. Use "of" instead; it's longer, but more correct. _We like the food of the restaurants. _
I'd argue that the restaurant does own the food, at least for the purpose of the apostrophe: it's theirs, they make it, they produce it, etc. Like, the father's child or the school's faculty: the father doesn't own the child and the school doesn't own the faculty, but both are responsible in some way and are very tightly connected.
"The food of the restaurant" doesn't sound like common American English. (Maybe it's regional though, and other countries would say it that way.) I'd probably say "from the restaurant." And of course the vague "restaurant" means that the sentence is pretty uncommon in everyday language. Adding specifics can help suss these out.
I like the fries from Burger King.
He likes the fries of Burger King.
They like Burger King's fries.
See to me that just sounds wrong in English. I would say that I like 'those' or 'these' restaurants' food. Putting 'the' in is implying just one restaurant
1371
That may be a regional matter. In the parts of the United States I have lived in, it is perfectly normal to say "the restaurants' food," "the kids' school," "the trees' leaves," etc. I might very well find myself saying, "I'm not very fond of the restaurants' food, but they both have great wine menus."
"the kid's school" makes sense if they all go to one school. "The restaurants' food" is just plain wrong.
- 1371
Are you saying it is somehow logically wrong? I myself have used this phrase when talking about a chain of restaurants or the restaurants in a particular city, for instance. When I was traveling in Soviet Georgia, in 1987, for instance, the restaurants' food was mostly dreadful, but what one got in people's homes was divine.
- 47
In written English it is clear that restaurants is plural because the apostrophe is at the end. You can't hear the difference in spoken English, so in that case it would be better to say "we like the food of the restaurants" (which is accepted).
Technically yes, but it doesn't sound natural. I'd more likely say "the food in the restaurants," talking about a particular group of restaurants, or restaurants in a particular place, or "restaurant food": "I spent a week in Akron; I didn't care much for the home cooking, but I liked the restaurant food."
- 1371
"Restaurant food" is definitely what I would say most often. Indeed, for the reason pietvo points out, I might prefer this plural possessive structure primarily in writing.
It's not just how it sounds like restaurants. The sentence also sounds very vague and I can think of few, if any, times when it would be said like this. Their would be a little more to the sentence like, "restaurants around here" or "these restaurants", or "the restaurants that are here." But, to be honest, when has duolingo used a sentence that would actually be used the way it is? Please, no one actually respond to that.
so i type "i like the restaurants' food" - it's almost correct (restaurants without apostrophe), and it also shows me another solution: "i like the restaurants' food"
So this literally means you like the [pleural] restaurants' food? Just to confirm! :)
It's perhaps a little bit clearer if you look at the word like this:
restaurang + er = plural without an article, eg. "restaurants"
restaurang + er + na = plural with the article "na", eg. "the restaurants"
- 796
The voice pronounces this sentence as to mean "we evaluate the food of the restaurants". "tycker OM", meaning like, must have the stress on the particle.
It does that a lot, all over the course. I've uploaded maybe half a dozen re-recordings already... I suspect there will be quite a lot of them before I'm done. :/
Re-recording
The voice is not quite perfect on this sentence, as of June 23, 2018, so I've taken the liberty of re-recording it.
There's not supposed to be any staccato in the sentence, but it sounds absolutely stilted when the TTS says it.
Please find a correct recording on http://duolingo.vydea.io/329fb8ef35364096a81871acab2ce75d.mp3
For more info on re-recordings, please check the info thread: https://www.duolingo.com/comment/23723515
Thanks for listening. Ha en bra dag! :)
Could someone please tell me how you would do for >restaurant's< vs >restaurants'< in swedish? Thanks
Would it be "restaurant's = restaurangs" and "restaurants' = restaurangerna"?
- 830
a restaurant's = en restaurangs
the restaurant's = restaurangens
restaurants' = restaurangers
the restaurants' = restaurangernas
The spelling of this word looks weirder to me the longer I look at it :)
Is there some form of standard Swedish like with German or is this with a dialect?
There is an existing standard Swedish, it's the one we're learning here now. Naturally there are also different dialects like in all languages, for example Finnish Swedish which is slightly different.
Your program seems unable to recognize my final apostrophe in restaurants', e.g. and other examples correctly typed!
Unless referring to many specific restaurants, being also a restuarateur myself, I would say simply "restaurant food," being the general way to say food in restaurants.
I would presume this sentence was about many specific restaurants, actually.
I got this question wrong on purpose after getting it right 3 times in a row! What is going on here?
lol i just forgot to close the caps lock and i am wrong with translating it. such talent much duolingo
Wait, seriously? You were marked wrong for case? I thought they fixed that bug like three years ago...
But it's not a general statement - restaurangerna is the definite form.
”Så vad är grejen med flygplansmat?” would be the correct translation if you want to use it. ;)
No, that would mean one restaurant. The sentence is about more than one.
Duolingo thinks using a plural possessive apostrophe is a typo. It's extremely annoying, but it's the same for all courses and the bug is very old. :(
What do you mean by referring? Do you mean I should just go without commenting if there is similar comment or somehow mark the already existing comment so you know I have the same issue?
Well, yes - I think it's quite clear from the other comments that we're well aware of the bug and can't solve it. While I appreciate you wanting to help, adding more comments on the same issue is not going to make anything better.
Wouldn't you need to make it "restaurant's" food? I am pretty sure that is the possessive form of restaurant.
- 1136
- The restaurant's food -> Restaurangens mat
- The restaurants' food -> Restaurangernas mat
