- Forum >
- Topic: Spanish >
- "No sé por qué esos trabajos …
"No sé por qué esos trabajos son hechos por la noche."
Translation:I do not know why those jobs are done at night.
65 Comments
"Por la noche" is a fixed phrase in Spanish that means "at night" - it does not translate directly.
"En la noche" is incorrect
Thanks I'd thought that but wasn't sure it was always the case. Cant it be translated as 'for the night',' in the night' or 'at night'?
In English "done for the night" has a very different meaning - it means finished. "I'm done for the night, goodbye, I'll see you tomorrow."
It can have the same meaning as above also though. "She does all her homework at night" means "All her homework is done at night" both are said and are grammatically correct.
en la noche is an English way of speaking, ie. 'at night' por la noche, por la manana is Spanish grammar. Makes it easier if you don't compare the two.
My favorite is : "Nos vemos manana por la manana." We'll see each other tomorrow morning (tomorrow, in the morning)
There's another word for morning - madrugada but it's used for night, early morning (like at 3, 4, 5 o'clock in the morning)
En la noche is influence from English. Por la noche is used in Standard Spanish across all dialects.
"I do not know why those works are done at night." Spanish may use the plural "trabajos" here, but in this context, English uses the singular. "this work" should be the preferred translation. I understand the principle of testing recognition of plurals versus singulars, but the goal should also be to understand how language is used differently in the different languages.
Yes, "those works" would not be said in English, however "those jobs" seems fine to me. I don't think DL should accept "those works" as a correct answer.
and obras is used for roadworks and construction as well, at least here in Mexico. And labour force or manpower is mano de obra.
I was taught that the question words like why, where, when etc. only have accents when used as a question. So in this sentence "por que" doesn't have an accent.
I think this is what's called an indirect question, so that's why an accent is there.
"I don't know why those works/jobs are made at night"
"for the night" sounds weird whether it's "done" or "made"
I would think so, because this sentence technically doesn't have an agent... So I think the imcomplete passive "se hacen" would be more appropriate. If you do that though, you would have to change the word order to "...se hacen esos trabajos..."
I don't see that you need to translate 'esos trabajos' by an English plural.
Why say "those jobs" instead of just "that job," you mean? If you were talking about different job positions (e.g. a security guard AND a nurse) then you wouldn't refer to both of them in the singular.
Job can also refer to a piece of work eg digging up the road, emptying a cess-pit or carrying out an exhumation.
I think in that case it would mean "by night" as in the deadline for doing something is at night, but I could be wrong.
Not a native speaker, but it looks fine to me, meaning "I don't know why those jobs are carried out at night".
The context of the sentence makes "made" a really unlikely translation.
I don't know why these JOBS are done at night. Jobs are done, not made.
I don't know why these THINGS are done/made at night - if this sentence had used a different noun, like "things" - either "done" or "made" would make sense.
Look at the answer below this one - it's the passive voice (the jobs 'are done' by an unspecified actor or actors). That's how you form it in spanish, ser + past participle (hecho in this case)
What.. is.. going on with Duo in this lesson. First it makes me say "fui seguiste" over and over again and now it's talking about people being detained and mystery jobs done at night.
In the previous sentence we learned "esta pagada" and now "son hechos". When is estar used with the past participle and when is ser used?
"estar" is used to describe someone's/something's state or condition, while "ser" is used to describe action and it is almost always used with "por". For example, "Las pizzas son cocinadas (action) por mi mamá, pero ella está enferma. Por eso, las pizzas no están cocinadas (state/condition).
It seems to translate more like...' I don't know why those jobs are made for the night'. Read a label that says 'Hecho en Mexico'. Made in Mexico. Ta..da...
"I don't know" why you think "I do not know" is different. They are both equal in standard English. I til you this before and you have done nothing about it.
"I don't know why those jobs are done at night," should be included as a correct solution.
I know it doesn't make a lot of sense, but why is "i don't know because those jobs are made at night" technically incorrect?
No, because this is the complete passive voice, in this tense the conjugated form of "ser" and the past participle of a word (in this case, the past participle of the work "hacer") are combined. So the product would be "son hecho", but the past participle in the complete passive voice must match the subject that goes before it (in this case "esos trabajos") and so the final product becomes "son hechos".
Here's a link about it: http://spanish.about.com/od/sentencestructure/p/passive_voice.htm
Most annoying thing about duolingo is the analness about these/those where usage is actually more fluent and overlapping in real life.
It may be fluid in some situations, but in others it's completely wrong to say one when you mean the other. Duolingo is drilling the difference into you so you know which is which - then you can enjoy the nuances of language and semantics without accidentally confusing other people or yourself
Well yeah, but only because I get it wrong as well! Just need to get my brain in gear so I don't even need to think about it, and the context just pops into my head like in English. I think I need to practice more...
