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- "De quem é a tartaruga?"
19 Comments
I wrote 'who owns the turtle', but it wouldn't accept that. I haven't met 'de quem' before now.
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I tried with: Whose the turtle is? and with the Pulenrique suggestion but both are marked as wrong answers
"Whose the turtle is" is erroneous. That sentence is different from what Paulenrique suggested. The pattern in English is: Whose __ is this/it?
- 890
It is quite a common error, even among some native speakers. Even though they sound the same, their meanings are different. ♦ Who's = Who is. Who's calling? Janet! ♦ Whose denotes possession: Whose pen is this? Mine!
Can I just put the "é" at the end of the sentence and say "De quem a tartaruga é"? It's a lot easier to say. I find switching from pronouncing "é" and "a" hard without either having to pause in between or messing up the word after.
People will understand you, but a native speaker would say "De quem é a tartaruga?"
And my goal at this moment is to understand and be understood. So I don't entirely care if I sound less than perfect. I can accomplish that later. It'll take to long for me to learn to speak Português Brasileiro perfectly from the start.
what if someones name is turtle? "quem e tartaruga?" or "quem e paul enrique?" ""who is turtle? or "who is paul enrique?" or do you still need the "o" or "a" ?
Just note the word here is "whose", not "who". In this case you should always use the article: De quem é a tartaruga?
- Quem é Paulo Henrique? = Quem é o Paulo Henrique?
- Quem é Tartaruga? (a nickname, for example)
The English translation is awkward. "Whose is the turtle" is not the way a native would ask the question.
