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- Topic: Portuguese >
- "É um menino."
21 Comments
I totally agree. We're talking about a boy so he's a person so "he" should be accepted
Technically, "He is a boy" is a correct translation, but by excluding "ele" the phrase becomes contextual. "He" or "She" would have to be implied from previous sentences, but we know we are talking about "He" because of the word "menino" (you dont say "She is a boy").
I think it's a bit unfair to mark that question wrong..perhaps you can just note the distinction upon grading..
This is the best idea so far... it is implied it's a he, so saying "it is a boy" is as if I was talking about a boy robot or something like that... Better to leave it as correct and note that "it is a boy" is also correct.
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This is just like Spanish--- the third-person singular verb (¨é¨) basically means ¨it is,¨ ¨he is,¨ AND ¨she is.¨ Unlike in English, the pronoun is unnecessary if we know the gender from the context, as we do here.
TL;DR ¨He is a boy¨ should also be accepted.
Verdade--true, either translation is correct, but "he" sounds more natural in English.
"He is a boy" would be "Ele e um menino." "E um menino" is "it's" - like the doctor announcing "It's a boy!" or "what is that dark shape up ahead? Oh, it's a boy."
If "it" is a boy, then you should say 'he', in my opinion, since you are defining the person in that very sentence already... wouldnt make sense to use 'it' and boy in one sentence.
Accept he is a boy. That's a correct English translation. No one says "it is a boy" in English!
I wrote he, I don't believe you would say it is a boy, well depending on context. If it is a newborn child and you want to say what gender he is, you would say he is a boy
a boy is a person, so the pronoum is he; and the pronoum it correspond with things.
My question is this: It is "It is a boy" even a correct sentence in english?
Can you refer to a person with the pronoun "it"? I thought "it" is used for objects.
Technically you do not need "ele" to say "he is" since the verb conjugation itself already gives you the context (i.e. "sou menina": I am a girl. No need for the "eu"). A student would not imply that the question before was "what is it?" hahaha... Seems funny they haven't changed it. It is, however, comical to imagine someone looking at a child and saying "what is it?, such a strange looking thing!"
