"They sell a lot of spices and oils."
Translation:Ili vendas multe da spicoj kaj oleoj.
22 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
What's the difference between sentences "Ili vendas multe da spicoj kaj oleoj" and "Ili vendas multajn spicojn kaj oleojn"? Do they mean slightly different things or are they the same?
There's no real difference. Sometimes the difference is that "multe da X" treats the object as a bunch of something - sold collectively. In practice, for a case like this, I wouldn't say there's a difference.
Its similar to the difference between 'Mi trinkas tason de akvo' and 'mi drinkas malvarman akvon'. In the latter cases the objects of the verbs are 'a lot' and 'a cup' respectively, and what its a lot of or what its a cup of is seperated from the object enough (by a preposition) that its not in the accusative. Its a difficult and counter-intuitive distinction becauae to your ears 'a glass of water' or 'a lot of spices' sounds like one object.
In the former cases 'multajn' and 'malvarman' are adjectives that still form part of the object noun, so both will be in the accusative.
I hate to say this, but there are grammatical errors in your examples. I'm wondering if now, after 18 more months of learning, you can spot them.
1243
Because you don't use the accusative after a preposition (except sometimes to indicate direction, which isn't the case here). You would say "Ili vendas spicojn kaj oleojn", but the -n isn't used after "da".
- 355
Nouns in this example are "spices" and "oils", I don't see how you can use "a lot of" (multe) as a noun?!
Yes, I would think it would be the adjective "multaj", but I got it wrong for a different reason.
Think of "a lot" in terms of "that lot". I am waiting for someone to tell me what the word is for "lot" in Esperanto (there may not be such a word! LOL).
Kial estas "multe da" kaj ne la vorton "multe de"? I mean it speaks of what they are selling and not how much
no, think of multe as an indefinite quantity. As a rule, da, not de, follows it.
I put "Ili multe vendas da spicoj kaj oleoj" but was marked wrong. I reported it. But wondering if someone can actually tell me if that is wrong or not. It seems like the adverb "multe" is modifiying the verb "vendas" therefore should be fine to include it first prior to the verb?
You wouldn't ordinarily split up multe and da like that since da is used to connect a quantity word (multe) with the thing that you have a quantity of.
One of my frustrations lately with the Duolingo forum for Esperanto is that I see more and more questions which could be answered if the person asking had read the Tips and Notes or had done lesson 1 of a course like the one at Free-Esperanto-Course dot Net.
They say there are no dumb questions - and I believe that - but some questions seem very much like asking the teacher to do the assigned reading for the student. It's best to think of Duolingo not as a language course, but as a language game. Get a basic textbook or take a free basic course along with it.
At the very least, read the Tips and Notes.
Pardonu, Majstro, oni ne intencis kauxzi malplezuro. En la tempo ekde onia pli frua afisxo, oni havis tempo uzi viajn lecionojn. Oni lernis multajn aferojn en ili, kaj oni estas dankema.
En kiu senco de la angla vorto "lot"? La vorto ja havas multajn diversajn sencojn. Jen kelkaj ekzemploj: "I do a lot of work". "I left my car in the parking lot" (American English for "car park). "The auctioneer sold one lot very quickly".
Dankon pro respondado al mia demando. Mia celita senco estis la lasta ("lot" ≈ grouping). "Lot" en la senco de "many" mi pensas esti "multe". *** Cxu la vorto por kiu mi sercxas, estas "multo"?
Mi kredas, ke ne, "multo" ne signifas "aĵo, kiun aŭkciisto vendas." Tamen, mi bedaŭrinde ne povas trovi la vorton por tiu.