"We did not like the chicken."
Translation:Nós não gostamos do frango.
17 Comments
I'm confused by the sudden use of past tense, as until now I've only been using present tense. So I just entered the present form, prepared to learn from the correction, and it was marked correct? Is 'did' a typo in the exercise, or is the past/present the same here (care to explain?)?
You guessed correctly. In Brazilian Portuguese, the "nós" conjugations of all regular verbs have this feature. So "gostamos (de)" = like or liked. This makes several of Duolingo's Portuguese sentences ambiguous.
the verb gostar (and it's conjugations such as "gostamos") are always followed by "de". Now "do" = "de" + "o", so "I like the chicken" = "Eu gosto do frango".
It is difficult to believe this is not true, even some native Portuguese speakers have told me that "gostar" is always followed by the preposition "de". I'm afraid it is a myth. That said, in all the uses of "gostar" we see in Duolingo it certainly is true (an easy rule to remember among so many complicated ones).
There are some uses of "gostar" that do not need the "de" though. See http://www.recantodasletras.com.br/gramatica/2748443
surely we say "gostar que / gostar quando" - I'd like you... = gostaria que você; I like it when... = gosto quando. I found interesting the link once I was never taught that at school, never heard of that or even seen that in something I've read. I'm sure I'll never use that (I'll sound odd and people won't understand what I mean), but as I said, it's always good to know =)
Thank you Paulo. So, as a native speaker, you think this is just a curiosity then. The reason I brought it up was because I discovered a couple of meanings in the entry for "gostar" in an online dictionary (while I was compiling a list of dictionaries http://www.duolingo.com/comment/594701). They really caught my attention; here they are:
- gostar
- ...
- transitivo direto
- 8 provar, comer, degustar
- Ex.: g. frutos do mar
- transitivo direto
- 9 utilizar (algo prazeroso ou salutar); desfrutar, aproveitar, gozar
- Ex.: g. os prazeres da vida
So I tried to find some examples and came across the link I posted. The link does say those sentences are seldom used.
They are rarely used indeed. In fact, it was told it may show up in a hard test, for example, but up to now I haven't seen that. If i'd say "eu gostei os frutos do mar" everybody would look at me and ask: "what?", they'd probably laugh at me =/. But i'd sound natural by saying "eu degustei os frutos do mar" or "já degustei frutos do mar" (these two latter sentences have different meanings).
I'm so sorry, I was itching to get that off my chest somewhere and you were the unlucky recipient. As I tried to say, and as Paulo has confirmed, your advice is entirely valid for all practical purposes and is always true when "gostar" means "to like" as in this sentence.
i think that was valid too!! (not for beginners though), but Riley is climbing to the top in Portuguese, to become a fluent speaker. it might have helped him.... and me too, a native speaker who doesn't know that much ;)
could i say this using “a gente” instead of “nos” and is there a rule for when to use one or the other?
= A gente não gostou do frango
"A gente" is used in spoken language. It's informal.
Why is "a gente nao gosta do frango" not accepted? (Please excuse the lack of accents)
