21 Comments
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Yes? Okay, then I can break our friendship without feeling too bad about it.
Isn't några supposed to be pronounced with a silent "g"? That's how i remember it when i lived in sweden.
OK, I'll accept that it could sound a bit different but that doesn't actually make it a wrong translation! I think my complaint is that several times I get told I'm wrong when really the 'correct' translation is just a slightly different way of saying the same thing. I won't go into whether this is because many of the answers are Americanisms and therefore to my eyes and ears just plain peculiar!
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I think it's because the software isn't "smart" enough to be able to interpret the meanings of sentences that we input and so all the different acceptable answers have to be put in "by hand", and sometimes our fabulous course mods just don't think of all the variety of ways that things could be said.
There are also translations that sound British and awkward to Americans. Anyway in making this useful for the greatest number of people, the translation "have you. . " probably just isn't the most useful.
that sentence sounds a little awkward in english. generally, unless we're trying to sound poetic, we start sentences like this one with auxiliary verbs like "to be."
I don't agree. "Have you some other friends?" is perfectly good English and perfectly appropriate for some (but not all) occasions. I was surprised to have this translation rejected.
This must be dialectical - to my American ears, that does sound more poetic or dated. I think some mods try to balance accepted answers in regards to the most common dialects, but they do seem geared towards American English (see also: American flag for the English language).
It's perfectly standard in parts of Britain and typically completely foreign to speakers elsewhere. We do accept the construction.
I see that några can meen both some, or any but if i wanted to make a sentence like " some cats like water" could i say några katter tycker om vatten ? If so, how do you know im saying some cats like water v.s any cat likes water?
Does saying "har du några vänner" make any sense? Is that "Do you have any friends?"
This comment is about några, but used as an noun. In the leesson 'determintion' the following is said: "några means someones (plural of someone/something) or anyones (plural of anyone/anything)". I am not an native English speaker but I think that 'someoneS' 'and anyoneS' do noy exist in English. I think the plural of 'someone' is 'some (people)' and the plural of 'something' is 'some (things)'.
Thanks! I've fixed that and a few other things. Duolingo caches the lesson notes heavily, though, so it might take a little while until the changes turn public. :)
