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- "Ĉu ili vespermanĝas kune?"
53 Comments
I'm not sure it's commonly used anywhere anymore...it was certainly in extensive use in the UK through the 19th century. OED currently lists it as "dated" rather than "archaic," so possibly still some use there. There's plenty of evidence for it in common literature (i.e. Stephenson's "Treasure Island:" "...bring up the cold pie and let him sup."). Each meal in English has a dedicated verb to go with it: "I breakfast/he breakfasts," "I lunch/he lunches," "I dine/he dines," "I sup/he sups," "I snack/he snacks." Even tea managed to get one, despite being a relatively recent innovation and an awkward construction ("I tea/he teas"), though I dare say it's rarer than "sup."
224
Cole Porter knew it - I'd like to sup with my baby tonight/Refill the cup with my baby tonight - Too Darn Hot
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.
813
Same in parts of the UK. Where I live the meal times are: breakfast; dinner/lunch; tea(time) and supper. To talk about eating dinner in the evening just sounds so wrong.
739
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.
352
Evening is when dinner is eaten, right? So, "Eat-at-evening" might be the literal definition
2052
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.
934
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.
1165
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.