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- "Vamos a leer más libros que …
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I think it's fine that Duolingo accepts "than him" but I would prefer Duolingo not tell me that "We are going to read more books than him." is "another correct solution" because it not really correct in English. (It's okay to be sloppy but sad not to know what the correct grammar is.)
Technically. But pretty much no one says it anymore.
It's like saying "it's me" in situations where it should be "it's I."
Both vjmoore and karimagon are correct. It's a perfect example of the evolution of language. What was once considered proper grammar has eroded in common use to the point where it eventually sounds odd to most people's ears and begins to detract from the clear understanding of language. Eventually the old rule is dropped even by the official academic keepers of the language. I think that this phenomenon has existed in all times and with all languages, but is accelerating due to the ubiquity of person to person textual communication in the digital age.
The whole point of using "I" or "he" in this situation is to eliminate ambiguity and I wish people would use it exclusively. It doesn't sound odd if you add "is" at the end, e.g. "I am taller than he is," etc. which is what I do. In that situation, saying "him" wouldn't be ambiguous (just incorrect/sloppy grammar in my opinion), but it IS ambiguous when you say, for example (another sentence on DL), "I love you more than her" because technically that means "I love you more than I love her" but people will also use it to mean "I love you more than she loves you", which is obviously the clearer way to say it.
1621
Excellent point, well made. The fact that many people use poor grammar does not make it right nor an example to follow.
Those are some good points, but I doubt the genie can be put back in the bottle, especially since the majority of the reading many young people do today is reading text messages, wherein the worst grammar possible is being made to seem normal. It would take a major initiative on the part of the entire educational establishment to even slightly turn upcoming generations back toward proper grammar. The battle for the restoration of proper grammar seems all but lost.
While it is true that common use of bad grammar may evolve to accepted grammar, it is not the purview of a language teacher or a language program to promote bad grammar.
You are right: should be "than he". "than him" is just sloppy slang. This is an elipsis, short for "than he will read". DL should not be supporting sloppy grammar in English. The Spanish doesn't say "que le", either!
Vamos a = We are going to. The corresponding for third person singular in English is "he is" not "he will." But it's counted wrong too.
I did the same thing!
I put "let's read more books than him."
Is there a reason this isn't correct?
"We are going to read more books than him." *Learns "him" only reads one picture book per month.
I found the "que él" at the end of the audio so fast, I do not think in would have a hope of picking it up in normal one to one dialogue.
Can't find the when to use " ú " with accent and not to use "u " without accent, ex. que(?)
'Que' has an accent on the 'e' rather than the 'u' when it is a question, or an indirect question.
How does one know when to hear this phrase as "Let's read more books than him"?? I know better than to input this answer into Duolingo but I am pretty sure this can be heard as a suggestion. In fact, I have a hard time not hearing it that way. There's something about the word "vamos" in my mind that makes it feel almost little more like a command in the nosotros form but I not sure if it just me. In fact, this is consistent with the fact that the actual command form "vamonos" has taken on the feel of "let's get outta here" leaving the "vamos" to serve double duty. Help me out here, especially if you are native.
The active verb in the sentence is 'vamos' to the second verb must be in the infinitive, 'leer', otherwise the sentence would read: 'We are going to we read...'
We are going to read more books that "he", not "him". Still not fixed 2018 08 23
We are STILL having this problem. The folks at Duolingo simply refuse to accept that the correct English word is "HE." At the very least, in the version where you tap on the boxes, they should include "he" in the choices.
Because they don't allow the correct word "he" in the section where you choose boxes, I can't complete the lesson and am forced to test out of the entire section. Please, DL, if you insist on allowing "him," at least include "he" as a choice here, so we aren't required to choose an incorrect word in order to avoid ditching the entire lesson.
