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- Topic: French >
- "Les noms des garçons"
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Sitesurf, I keep getting marked as incorrect by Duolingo when I type "The boys' names." It keeps telling me that the correct response is "The boys names" (without the possessive mark). It also marks me as incorrect on another sentence about animals' names (the names of several animals) and I try to report it but the options are: the audio does not sound correct; the dictionary hints on hover are wrong or missing; the French sentence is unnatural or has an error.
I know that the system has always had troubles with apostrophes, blaming users for a non-existing space or suggesting incorrect translations (like "the boys names"). This was duly reported but it has not been fixed yet. In addition, I am aware of the drastic limitations recently implemented in the reporting system, and I think it is only temporary.
They do sound very similar, yeah - you just have to get familiar with the context really. Non doesn't actually make sense there, plus with the les before it you know you're expecting a noun phrase to follow. At first you just need to twig that the word you thought you heard doesn't really fit, then you can actually have a think about what it should be. Eventually your mind will start to filter it automatically, and you'll 'hear' the right word.
Part of it's understanding enough to know what words to expect. Same goes for your first language - it's just a string of common sounds really, your brain has just developed the ability to spot patterns and order them quickly!
Strange. My answer was "The boys' names," and though I still got the green check, it told me that my answer was "almost right," and that the correct response was "The boys names," (without the apostrophe). This has to be a glitch, right, or could "The boys names," somehow also work? Perhaps that translation could work if it were in reference to a book or list of baby names; one side/section has "The girls names," and one has "The boys names." Thoughts? 2/24/17
Three new boys are introduced to the classroom teacher. "What are the boys' names?" the teacher asks the school secretary. It depends on the context whether or not there should be an apostrophe. "The book of Boys Names" is a different context. Since no context is given in the exercise, both answers should be correct. Think of "the boy's shoe size"; "the boys' shoe sizes".
I wrote exactly that what it is above as translation and it says that I have a typo; it is not "boys'" but "boys".