"Elas não erram."

Translation:They do not make mistakes.

December 30, 2012

32 Comments
This discussion is locked.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/amhedh

Could "They are not wrong" be an acceptable answer?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/melesana

It was listed as a translation in the click-through - and I lost a heart for it too.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Lalalarz

They are both in the drop down, but they don't make mistakes has a completely different meaning to they are not wrong. So maybe it's a context thing?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/friendlynaveed

I have just written "They are not wrong" and duolingo accepted


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/kdammers

I wrote that and it was not accepted.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/JonWaschenReyes

not because we are saying about a verb not an adverd (i believe that is an adverb)


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Barbeito

What about "They do not err" ?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/paulinem

The infinitive is Errar to err or make a mistake (or mistakes). So either should be acceptable.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/daniellevz

or, "they do not make a mistake" Why should 'mistake' be plural in this translation?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/poppleani

Agreed. I'm a native English speaker from the United States. I lost a heart because I said, "They do not make a mistake." I think the best translation would be, "They do not err."


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Barbeito

It just isn't what a native speaker would say. If heard any say "they do not make a mistake" I would immediately know the speaker was a non-native English speaker. I can't explain why, sorry. It's just that intuition that native speakers have, and they don't make mistakes :-)


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/kdammers

As a native North American, I would disagree. True, the plural form is much more common, but what about a sentence like "Each time hen it comes to the one final, key decision, they do not make a mistake"?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/daniellevz

ok thanks, indeed I'm not a native speaker (are you?) but I'm familiar with that intuition in my own language.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Barbeito

Yes, I'm a native Brit. I do make mistakes when I write, because I have mild dyslexia, but not when speaking. I loose lots of hearts on Duolingo because of dyslexia. I have to keep my eyes peeled.

("If heard any say" in my previous comment, should have been "If I heard anybody say")


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/madlad

Sorry Barbeito, I have to disagree with you. I am a native English speaker and "they do not make a mistake" is perfectly acceptable to me. It has a different emphasis from "they do not make mistakes". For example I could be assessing a football team and say it. However I did lose a heart when I used it! So, I guess I could say about duolingo, "They do not make a mistake". In other words they are perfect.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/kcmurphy

I can see "they do not make a mistake" being okay, but only if there is a really strong emphasis on ¨a.¨ (just my two cents´ worth!)


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/JCMcGee

No....we never say "They do not make a mistake"...only the evil genius in a Bond movie would say that "They do not make a mistake Mr Bond!" and we would instantly know that his first language was nor English.

We would say "They NEVER make a mistake" or perhaps "They have not made a mistake" or even "They don't make mistakes".


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/SJKP

How about "They don't make errors"? Or am I mistaken in thinking that "error" is a synonym of "mistake"?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Opubo

Could "They do not err" not also be correct?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/JCMcGee

Yes, if you're talking to William Shakespeare.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/compotrigo

Why "They do not fail" is wrong?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Barbeito

'failure' means not to attain a goal. You can make mistakes and still attain your goal.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/vivisaurus

The sentence They do not fail, if translated word by word, would be "Elas não falham". =)


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/per_iocum

'they do not mistake" should be right answer, should it not?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/TetyanaO

And "They are not mistaken" is also wrong?


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Frelle

They are not wrong ... why is this not an acceptable answer???


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/vivisaurus

Hey Frelle! I think the problem is that "errar" is a verb in Portuguese, and it is similar to "make a mistake" or "to err". See more comments above, I think this question has been answered by others already. =)


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Dinholins

The sentence, they do not make mistakes, indicates something permanent, in other words someone that at no time is wrong. Already the sentence, they are not wrong, indicates someone that is wrong at a certain time. a literal translation of the Portuguese to English maybe would be: they not wrong. Espero ter sido claro e ajudado!


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/wimatoka

this is confusing. in one sentence ''to be wrong'' is correct. this time it is wrong. ridiculous. sometimes this course misses a lot of sense in the english translations.


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/Jandreslami

"They don't miss" seems like the most appropiate answer, and it is considered right by duolingo!


https://www.duolingo.com/profile/pacoxavier30

Maybe, according to the previous model statements: "They don't mess up." should be a possible translation. But, how "messed up" would that be, eh?

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