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- Topic: Italian >
- "Lei ha circa quarant'anni."
42 Comments
142
I wrote Lei ha circa quaranta anni and was marked wrong. That shouldn't be because quarant'anni is much more colloquial! Is there a strict rule as to having to contract two words that end and start with the same vowel?
I think there is. It happens even in formal writing. It's not just colloquial.
As far as I can tell, Duo has not addressed the formal "you." For a beginner, and/or someone who does not know romance languages, this could be a new concept. Duo marks you wrong if you translate "you" when a 3d person, sing. verb is used. I tested this and lost a heat. I wonder why this has been omitted.
Duo brings in the formal "you" eventually. I don't know whether it was introduced before this sentence came up.
- 208
No. I have only just reached this lesson and we have not learnt the formal "you" yet, so obviously we're neither expected to know it or to use it.
You should be able to say "She is NEARLY 40 years old." In the words of Nigel Tufnel: "That's nitpicking, isn't it?"
Nearly means almost. She will be forty soon
About means she could be 35, 38, 42. Her age is close to forty
I think "Lei ha ancora quarant'anni da vivere" would be a good translation although forty years is a pretty long length to be about to die.
haha you're right. forty years is alot...i hope i won't be using this sentence soon but thanks alot...it's really confusing though.
I answered, "she is almost forty," and it was marked wrong, although I don't see much difference. I guess we'd use the word "quasi" for almost. Lei ha quasi quarant'anni.
I said "almost" too and got dinged by DL, but now, thinking about it, "almost" implies younger than while "around" or "about" implies she could be younger OR older than 40. So, DL wins again. It's all good, though and part of learning the nuances of language.
- 635
If I say "she's about 8." What I mean is the girl is 7, 8, or 9. She's around that age.
That's what circa means anyway. Circa 1900, means around 1900.
So isn't circa also search for? How would you say she has searched for forty years?
No, to search for is cercare so it would need to be 'Lei ha cercato per quarant'anni'.
Yet another example of D/L being out of touch with english idioms. It is permissible and generally accepted for one to say a person has so many years( (of age) is understood) just as it is permissible to say that they are about a certain age. Please learn these english as opposed to american usages.
- 195
Duolingo! my error - by mistake i typed in a translation, and not the italian as heard. In the app on iPhone, you give a "Oops! second chance.." Why not on keyboard + monitor?
Nearly 40 years old should be accepted. In English, nearly and about can be used interchangeably in this context.
- 461
The word quarantine comes from this number, as ships had to stay in port for 40 days.
You should have accepted my answer because that is the primary way we say it in American English
why the stupid word "old" , 40 years young, old , its all the same to me! it stays 40. and thats it.
The brits spell it 'fourty', yet the only option is the american spelling. Could this be changed?
Got that wrong too, until I looked it up. Turns out that both in American English as British English 'forty' is the only correct spelling, with 'fourty' being a very common misspelling :)
- 642
If anything you would think they'd put 'fourty' as a misspelling!! This doesn't seem fair...
