"Eu não pedi que ele achasse o meu bolo."
Translation:I did not ask him to find my cake.
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I didn't ask that he find my cake. (formal)
I did not ask him to find my cake. (less formal)
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I just wrote the formal version as my answer and got it marked as wrong. Duo expected an "s" after "find". I think in this case Duo is wrong, so I reported it.
Correct English expression of the past-contrary-to-fact mood using the subjunctive sounds stuffy to many English speakers, but I would rather use the English subjunctive than the informal infinitive in these exercises. However, I won't dare, because Duolingo always errs in favor of the less correct, more popular expression.
Which of these two answers is correct "I did not ask him to find my cake" or "I did not ask him what he thought of my cake" or is there any possibility it could mean both? I answered the former and was judged correct, but I wonder if the second sentence is more likely to be what was meant..
the first one... when "ask" is translated as pedir, it means a favor (in this case it was 'achar').The second option would be: "eu não lhe perguntei o que ele achou do meu bolo".
Thanks a lot Paulo. Sorry for my stupidity. I'll try to remember what you say by thinking of "pedir" as "to request" rather than as "to ask" in the future because that would have eliminated my slight confusion here.
i thought very smart your capacity to come up with these two possibilities!!
A palavra "bolo" pelo menos para mim, estava improvável alguem entender, ouvi umas 10 vezes e mesmo assim, não entendi, acabei errando.
It has to do with the "sequence of tense." In most cases, the preterit in the main clause triggers the past imperfect in the subordinate clause: pedi -> achasse.
Yes:
- (present) Peço que ele ache o bolo = I ask him to find the cake
- (past) Pedi que ele achasse o bolo = I asked him to find the cake
I did not ask that he find my cake? (failed) Hang on, I just did this question...
This sounds as if it were an idiom, sort of like telling someone to mind their own business - am I right?
WHy not "I didn't ask him to found my cake" achasse = pretérito no caso o verbo "achar" = " find" não deveria está no passado?
That doesn't really work in English (the infinitive is "to find" not "to found"). In the accepted answer, the "I did not" places the rest of the sentence, "ask him to find my cake", in the past.
In the subjunctive, the base verb "find" doesn't change.
I ask that he find my cake.
I asked that he find my cake.
I didn't ask that he find my cake.
Duolingo seems to have a real problem with subjunctive in English, and it could mislead some students. This sentence is incorrectly translated; it should be "I did not ask that he find my cake". Especially since, in the Portuguese, it is not specified whether the person was asked directly, whereas in the English (incorrect) translation it is.
Could the verb 'encontrar' work here instead of 'achar'? I feel that achar is far more often used as an opinion than it is to literally go and find things...?