"Then why are they here?"
Translation:Allora perché sono qui?
29 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
Duolingo is a bit crazy. In some sentences, sometimes it accepts both "allora" and "poi".
The reason for that is actually inherent to the language itself: in English "then" is used to express both a temporal sequence, e.g. "first study then play" and a logical sequence, e.g. "if he's late, then he'll miss it", and also a general past, e.g. "back then". In Italian "allora" only covers the last two, while for the first one you have to use "poi". In this particular sentence some sort of "if" is implied.
I guess it's very clear the definition you gave. I just hope I can get to apply this rule on new sentences from now on. Thanks.
Maybe. But the exercise was to translate English to Italian not the other way around and without context the reader has to guess.
Yes, Duo once says it is write then says later it is wrong, and we lose our marks.
How do you know if it's "Then why are they here?" or "Then why am I here?" Context, I suppose...
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From The Italian, It'd Be Impossible To Tell Without Context, But You Could Add "Loro" Or "Io" To Specify, If It seem Not Particularly Clear, Or You Just Feel LIke It.
So did I and the correct answer was "Allora perché sono qui", which pretty much confused me.
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Quindi means 'therefore' which is used in conditional sentences. ex. È notte, quindi accendo le luce = It is night, therefore I turn on the lights.
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Why do we leave loro out of this sentence.. How will we know who is the subject with out that addition
Lots of 'allora vs poi' inquiries and eight years later still confusion with overly complicated answers given by the mods. When all else fails just remember 'allora' is most frequently used at the beginning of a sentence (re. Learn Italian With Lucrezia). Allora, cominciamo! Well, let's begin! So, let's begin!
Think of "poi" as a 'linker', linking two actions together that don't have a cause and effect meaning that allora has (after that, then). I went to the movies, then I went to a pub. Sono andato al cinema, poi sono andato a un pub. (re. Rocket Languages).
I hope you're not paying for this LMAO
I thought qui/qua was here/there but it says they both work for this sentence. Does this mean they both mean "here" and if so, what's the difference? And how would you say "Then why are they there?"
Qui/qua both mean here, while lì/là mean there; and for the record, there's also costì and costà, but you'll likely never hear them outside of Tuscany.
The meaning of each is as follows:
- Qui: right here where I am
- Qua: in my general proximity
- Costì: right there where you are
- Costà: in your general proximity
- Lì: exactly over there
- Là: over there
In actual speech, most Italians don't mind the difference between qui and qua and between lì and là that much, usage depends more on personal preference; when in doubt, use qua for here and là for there, they're the most common, especially in idioms.
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Why is there a random "mai" in this answer? I thought mai was something that never happened?
I used "poi" here and was marked wrong - which I now understand. What I don't understand, however, is why DL suggested "Quindi perché loro sono qua?" Could someone please explain how "quindi" could be correct in this context?
i typed poi perche loro sono qui and the correct solution duo gave me was Quindi perché loro sono qui?anyone else get the "quindi" version?
I can accept what the moderator says, though I'm not sure why or how "allora . . . qui" signifies a "logical sequence." "Why we are here" may suggest a metaphysical question or a philosophical concern. But it may equally indicate that we are here because we stupidly turned left when we should have continued straight. If there's logical sequencing associated with the latter, it escapes me.
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I would have thought you always need to use loro in this sentence. Otherwise "why am I here?" could very often be assumed.