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- Topic: French >
- "Il agit seul."
77 Comments
1315
Good one Duo.
Introduce agit for the first time. Use the drop down definition menu to show that the most common definition is is. Use a three word, no context phrase to test student's understanding of the definitions and then mark is wrong.
Since Duo has thoroughly confused the issue perhaps someone here can tell me. Is it true that is represents the most common use for agit?
Agir=to act. Though, a very common use of this verb is this:
"Il s'agit de"=it is about
Le livre, il s'agit de femmes=the book is about women.
Hi northernguy. I bet you posted that a long time ago. I've learned so much from your posts. See how much by scrolling down..... and thank you. JJ.
- 1315
No. It was not my intention to be able to converse in French. To do so I would have to spend a lot of time practicing speaking and listening to French. Because of my situation I personally prefer to spend my time increasing my understanding of the dynamics of the language. I anxiously await the day when Duo offers languages that I would very much like to be able to converse in and damn the dynamics.
I understand that most people would have conversing in a language as one of the main reasons for studying it.
- 1315
Looking through four dictionaries produces three definitions of variations on act, acting etc. and one from Google Translate as simply is.
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My point was that Duo should start worrying when it's only Google Translate that agrees with them.
- 1262
The same thing happened to me. And the first question out of the box...BAM! I'm looking here for helpful hints and explanations.
I took it to mean something like "As opposed to being part of a conspiracy, the assassin acts alone."
That would be "He is alone". "He is acting alone" is a bit different. It implies that one is doing something alone, rather than just being alone in general.
I'm not so sure that the translation is so wildly out of whack as some might think. In French phrases are commonly contracted from their English counterparts to this sort of thing. Je mange to mean I eat And I am eating for example.
I think you're correct. People sometimes get caught up in doing it without losing hearts but it's about learning, so mistakes are okay.
Nice one Jayohdeeye. Lose hearts gain experience. I played with this one and tried to psyche out Duo. For the life of me couldn't believe they wanted "Is" out of me even though they gave it as the preferential translation. They have ways of making us talk! I shoved a heart right in their face with "Acts" and they buckled, capitulated, just gave up the ghost and marked it correct. IS dont give me the IS already, we've had it with the IS when it was EST. Duolingo want to get so radical, we send 'em back to his own country! :)
Yes, that's correct. Once I did a lesson 20 times before i finished it without losing any heart.
Um, (no offense), I think...that...it would be..."without losing any heart." .....
Yes. MAKING mistakes is to be welcomed. It is, after all, how we best learn - just watch small children trying to stand up, walk, speak, Unfortunately , somewhere along the line we become ashamed, cross, resentful and feel put down by our mistakes. I know that with Duo, if I take a chance rather than check drop down, and get an answer wrong, then looking at the useful discussions will have me spending time analysing and understanding. I can learn from that mistake. If I take a chance and guess right, I then move straight on and may not have really understood why I got it right! But that doesn't matter - next time I'll probably get the same thing wrong and can then discover why. I must say I love Duo's curveballs.
The issue with this sentence is that the action occurs in the past (took); therefore the verb must be conjugated for the past tense and not the present, like it is in Duo's sentence.
So "he took action alone" would be "Il a agi seul" (in passé composé) or "il agissait seul" (in imparfait); the exact past conjugation one uses depends on if the action happened only in the past or if it happened before but is still happening, to name a few factors. :)
When you mouse over agit it says "acts/acted/behaves", but when I answered "he acted alone" I got it wrong. Do some of the other words have to change tense for it to be acted?
"He acted alone" is past tense. "He acts alone" would be correct because its in present tense.
You're technically right since the present and preterite of the third person singular are the same here. I'd say just recognize the preterite, but learn the compound past. He acted alone= Il a agi seul (auxiliary verb + past participle)
First definition on drop down is the word is. Use that and it is marked wrong. Not fair!
[QUESTION]
Does this sentence mean that someone is really acting in a drama/in opera? If NOT, what is the best or the most common French verb for that?
Merci de vos responses
"Est" is usually used to mean "is". "Agir" = to act. However it can be used to mean "is" for example "Il s'agit de" = "It is about". But it can not be used as "is" in all contexts. Usually "est" is used for "is".
I tried "He acts lonely", but didn't work. How would this translate to French?
I thought he wanted to be alone (agit) instead of being left alone (est).now they tell me he is just working alone. Maybe he's a spy.workin it seul
How would you say "Only he acts", or "Alone he acts"? (as in "out of all the people watching, only he acts")
"Out of all the people watching, only he acts" = "hors de tous les gens qui regardent, il agit seulement".
I said he is "acting lonely" but it said it wasn't correct. Is it because the connotation is different?
Not so much connotation, Mateo, just that the structure of your English sentence is incorrect ( should be "He is acting as if he were lonely") and this, then, is way off the mark of the French sentence.
Ignoring the fact that the subjunctive tense is largely redundant in English, 'He is acting lonely' is still linguistically 'correct'. It could be an observation about a person's behaviour – 'He's acting as if he's lonely' (present indicative).
Thanks bronnyrienhardt. Many do, but I don't, understand subjunctives, present indicatives, atonal hummerflunks and all. I look in the dictionary and it takes me to another word that I don't understand and on, on, in a circle until it gives me the word I wanted an explanation for in the first place. What I see, though from this is though the task sentence was "He is acting alone", the rest of my post pointing that out is missing. It is useful to receive your post and thanks for taking the time. I can report the chopped-off post to Duo.
Any word on why 'He is acting lonely' doesn't translate correctly? What would be the correct translation?
Why does the drop down menu say 'j'agi' means 'I took action' and then marks it wrong when I fill that in for 'He took action'?
Does the word "agit" work the same as "act" does in English, where it can both mean "to perform" but also "to do"?
"he is acting alone" just sounds wrong. how could one act alone? does he act lonely? does he take action on his own? i found this one quite confusing.
- 1315
beygale
He acted alone is a very common phrase in English these days. Too common unfortunately.
You see it in the media probably once a week or more. The terrorist acted alone. It is always taken to mean the perpetrator acted by himself to commit some horrendous deed. No one ever thinks it means he felt lonely while driving his car into the crowd.
Police officers act alone when they charge into dangerous situations instead of waiting for backup.
I am acting alone when I post this comment since it does not reflect the opinion of Duo or anyone else but me.
- 842
I think you have never watched many crime shows. He acts alone, he acts without a partner, accomplice, or partner. He's a lone wolf.
does anyone know where we can find a user friendly reference to conjugations of all verbs?
AndrewFrae, I use the French dictionary by Livio, free through the Google play store. It has nicely organized conjugation charts of multiple tenses. I also use the English version so between the two, I can always find what I'm looking for.
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There are many. But it's real easy to go to the regular Google search box, type in (agir conjugation) and the table will pop up in less than a second.
