"A cidade ficou pobre."
Translation:The city became poor.
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I still don't understand how one would definitively distinguish between becoming poor and staying poor. If one wanted to say "The city stayed poor," how would they do it?
A good way to avoid ambiguity is to use continuar instead of ficar.
I have had an ongoing problem that I am guessing I am not alone in. This is a perfect example. The hints for 'ficou' are 'became' , "stayed" and "have stayed" but 'the city stayed poor' is not accepted. I've reported it countless times with increasing frustration: "We need you to be consistent." I yell. "If the hints are there, accept the translation that includes them. Or remove the hint that is not acceptable. It has happened again, and again, and again. I am tired of ranting to the faceless Owl, so I'm letting you guys have it. Maybe we should go on strike.. :.=}
Actually, I'm glad that we don't have to just copy the hints down word for word. The hints give valid translations of the word. However obviously not every valid translation will apply in every sentence. I like having those different meanings of the word given to me and then looking at which meaning applies in that particular sentence. I'm not a native speaker, but I have been reading Portuguese now for 2 years. I have found that the word ficar has dozens of meanings. For examples: got, as in ficou contento, furioso, cansado...; became, as in ficou evidente; stayed or lodged, as in ficou nos melhores hoteis; kept, as in ficou com muito odio; is located, as in Onde fica o hotel?; remained, as in ficou preso por oito anos; was, as in Pedro ficou muito arrependido; grew, as in ficou rico; stay, as in ficar alerta; to be, as in sua reputação pode ficar manchada por anos.
Well said. We are learning a complex language by practicing, not just being given hints to get a perfect score!
The hints are just that, hints. They can't supply the full, and every possible, meaning of a word. Language is complex and Duolingo is imperfect.
Need some clarification here. The correct answers given for ficou are 'turned' and 'became' but ficou is taken from ficar, which means to stay, so shouldn't the correct answer be stayed? As in the city was already poor, and stayed poor?
You are right: "ficar" means "to stay". However, it can also mean "become". When I read the sentence, I instinctively thought the city was wealthy before something really bad happened. I don't know if it will help, but let me give you an example: Estive contente, até ouvir as más notícias. A partir daí, fiquei triste (I was happy until I heard the bad news. After that, I became sad).
Yes, it's the equivalent of the Spanish word malas, a feminine plural adjective.
I see "ficar" in a place or with someone means "to remain." With adjectives referring to the subject it seems to mean "become," to change state in some way. Can a native speaker clarify if "ficar" sometimes also means "stay" or "remain" when linking an adjective to a noun as in this sentence?
I have the same question as the first person: how would you say: "the city stayed poor" in order to avoid confusion with ...became...?
One of the solutions would be the verb "permanecer" or "manter": "A cidade permaneceu/manteve-se pobre". Those verbs indicate a lack of change. The city was poor and remained that way.
This lesson is supposed to be for past tense. Yet the correct answers are not past tense.
We keep hearing that the preterit in Portuguese is often used verbally to express multiple tenses in English. It's very frustrating indeed. Duolingo should give all possibilities as "another correct translation" so we have a hope of understanding it.
It sounds as if "get" is a good translation for ficar in a lot of contexts.
Subtitle from the site "businessinsider.com" describing the plight of Bridgeport CT:
How Bridgeport Got Poor In The First Place
Como Bridgeport ficou tão pobre inicialmente.
Because this is a subtitle, short words were used to save space. Better English would be:
How Bridgeport has become so poor
Como Bridgeport ficou tão pobre.
The city has turned poor. What on earth does that mean, I am pretty certain it is not English
My view of the verb "ficar" living here in Rio is that it used for all kinds of things beyond the literal meeting "to stay". When you want to ask "Where are the toilets" you would ask "Onde ficam os banheiros". This is not stay, become or anything....sigh.
See the answer by toxicidade above. When there is no change in state, Portuguese uses the verb manter or permanecer. "A cidade permaneceu/manteve-se pobre".