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Yeah, a bit of malglico at work there, sorry. I meant that calves are a subset of cattle as a species. I used bovino because of the English tendency to refer to the species by the name of the adult female (and because I was confusing the Esperanto feminine infix -in- with the Latinate suffix -īnus, denoting a relation). Stupid mistake sorry but my point was some bovinoj do drink milk as some bovinoj are bovidinoj.
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What the—cows don't drink milk? That's gotta be one of the most retarded things I've ever read. Why do you think they produce milk in the first place?! OMFG, people…
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"Grown up" cows don't, and I take that to be the meaning of the sentence. Calves do, though. "Bovidoj trinkas lakton" = Calves drink milk.
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That's just how it is in English, they're not called cows until they're adult and have had offspring. "An adult female that has had a calf (or two, depending on regional usage) is a cow. A young female before she has had a calf of her own and is under three years of age is called a heifer." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle http://www.clovermeadowsbeef.com/cow-heifer-steer-bull/
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We are not studying English. We are studying Esperanto, and bovo doesn't have an age specification on it, it means cattle.
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The question was about the English phrase, not the Esperanto one. Cattle would be "brutaro" or "brutoj".
Ĉiaj mamuloj trinkas lakton!
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Well, "Bovinidoj trinkas lakton!"
Did I say that right? I am trying to say "Calves drink milk!"
OOOPPS! I found it. It should be: "Bovidoj trinkas lakton!"
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16967/16967-h/16967-h.htm#letterC
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Are bovino and Cow not umbrella terms that don't specify the maturity of the animal?
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OK. Thanks. Sometimes I get drawn in by the ill-formed pedantry.
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I think "bovoj" and "cattle" are the umbrella terms for all members of the species. "bovino" is a female of the species while "cow" is a female adult of the species and heifer is a younger female and calf is the baby. https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovo People sometimes do say "cows" when they see a herd on a dairy farm as if there were no bulls, but that is because you often do keep the bull in a separate pen after all.
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https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=PL29F6F6DF7838A2FD&v=e4GqXUoh7wk
Cows may not drink milk, but pigs apparently eat bacon.
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I've always been confused as to why Zamenhof had to distinguish between trinki and drinki, when even in English this is one of those things that's understood
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"to drink" in English is used for both, we don't have a special word for drinking alcohol. Perhaps the expression: "I don't drink." (meaning alcohol) didn't make sense to him coming from another language, so he added a word just for drinking alcohol.
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From what I gather, Drinki is not just used for drinking alcohol, but also used for drinking to excess, which could be used for any liquid including water.
Indeed. I think bovine is better here. Is about the same that in Esperanto
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It seems to me that "bovine" is more of an attribute word, while "cow" and "bull" are words for the animal itself. There is no gender neutral word for the animal in English.
One could say "bovine milk", using "bovine" as an attribute of "milk", but I think the only way to translate "bovo" into English as a gender neutral word would be "bovine animal", which while seeming technically correct and understandable, would be horrendously irregular and clunky.
While I guess one could say "a bovine" or "bovines" when referring to non gender specific cows and / or bulls, I don't generally find that in practice.
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Would "does" work here? Non-native asking. I get a little confused at times.
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No. does (does not or doesn't in this sentence) is for singular third person (he, she, it), and this is plural (we, they), therefore it would be 'do' and in this sentence do not or don't).
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This probably comes from this riddle:
Say "silk" five times. Now spell "silk." What do cows drink?
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They (adult cows) also drink milk when given it. However, normally they wouldn't have access to it. Perhaps the sentence ought to be: Bovinoj kutime ne trinkas lakton.
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I suppose they would trust the farmer and drink milk in the trough if there was no water, but can you imagine the cows all trying to drink milk from each other? No access? Probably the cows wouldn't let each other. Hey, that milk is for my calf!
What if the calf has died for some reason.... No way! Just eat your grass or hay and drink that water over there! Have you ever seen any grown cows try?
They don't drink milk (or do they? see below) and maybe that is because their mothers weaned them off of it. Maybe if you bring them a bucket of milk, they might? They might be lactose intolerant now, having done without milk all this time. The bacteria that helps us digest milk dies off if we have no dairy products for a long time. I wonder if that happens to cows also?
Or is there an adult cow out there whose mother never stopped giving it milk?
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In one of the James Herriot vet books he mentions an example where an adult bull is still suckling. To those of you who speak American English, a vet, in the UK is a doctor for animals.
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Very funny, we use the word vet also. I probably have the book you mentioned, which is why I mentioned the adult possibility at the end, but a bull is not a cow in my mind. A bull is perhaps a bit more tenacious and forceful and is probably harder to wean.
I do defer to your example though!
Well, cows sometimes try/drink from each other, but they do not do it that much. Still, it happens.
His voice has become as if he is scared like [gasp] Bovinoj ne trinkas lakton.
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Everyone simmer down about cows and milk. This is a course on Esperanto, not animal husbandry. The sentences they give us don't need to be true or even make logical sense. They just need to teach us the vocabulary and grammar of the language.
You people are gonna lose your minds if Duolingo adds the sentence, "La bovino manĝas infanojn por matenmanĝo."
