"Ĉu ili vespermanĝas kune?"
Translation:Are they eating dinner together?
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vespermangxo is the noun form, like "Dinner is on the table" (Vespermangxo estas sur la tablo), while the other two the verb forms (we say "to eat dinner", but they have one word for it). Vespermangxi is the inifinitve form, and vespermangxas is the present tense form as in "I eat dinner" (Mi veserpermangxas).
Also, in some parts of the U.S., "dinner" is the noontime meal and "supper" is the evening meal but, even in places where "dinner" is the evening meal, "supper" is still understood as the evening meal, as well. Likewise, even though "dinner" can be ambiguous, "lunch" is always understood for the noontime meal.
1445
It was the same in Australia some years ago. Breakfast, dinner & tea. Supper was a light meal or snack later in the evening. "Lunch" has now largely replaced dinner for the midday meal and dinner has been moved to the evening meal. The post-tea/dinner cry was always "What's for pudding?", meaning "What dish is about to be presented as dessert".
Ireland is the same. My wife and I confuse our kids with the mid-day meal. She calls it dinner and I call it lunch. Often it's an urban/rural divide. Dinner generally refers to the largest meal of the day, in rural areas this is generally the midday meal and in urban areas it tends to be the late meal.
299
Evening is when dinner is eaten, right? So, "Eat-at-evening" might be the literal definition
2761
Phrases 'We're having tea together tonight', 'I'm about to eat me tea' were normal in the part of England where I grew up. I wouldn't be surprised if "eating tea" rather than "having tea" was common in some areas.
In England, breakfast is always at the start of the day, and lunch is always sometime around midday. After that, it is not even down to regional differences. It varies from family to family.
The midday meal: Lunch or dinner.
The mid-afternoon snack, with a cup of tea or coffee: Tea.
The meal served at the end of the afternoon or at the beginning of the day: Dinner or tea or supper.
A snack before bedtime or late evening: Supper.
I wrote "Do they eat supper together" and I was wrong. I guess in Esperanto Land, supper is the late evening snack!
Both are present tense, and are technically acceptable, I believe. If they weren't before, I think they are now. However, I'd argue "Are they eating dinner together" is a better translation, because a lot of English speakers would read between the lines of what is not said in "Do they eat dinner together", as it implies a general (repeating) state of affairs, not just a single, present instance.
1642
Some answers in Duolingo give the so called correct answer as "evening meal". Many countries have dinner at midday, where dinner = main meal of the day. I think both answers, evening meal or dinner should be correct.
1850
Im from USA and I have come across "sup" but only in books, never in real life conversation. It's kind of a last century slang.
How do you make the distinction between "kun ne" and "kune" by sound not sentence contents? And if "kune" sounds to you like "kun ne" but that doesn't make sense structurally, but you forgot the word kune. Lol. So as you can tell I missed it. : ) So I tried to make it with you, kun ni. Oh well, next time hopefully.