On Grammar and Meaning

[livingdeb]

In DuoLingo, they often show you a sentence written out while also saying it and then ask you to provide a translation. I have started not looking at the sentence to practice figuring out what they are saying just by listening. (Which I stink at.) Then I check by looking at the sentence. And only then do I type out the requested translation.

Sometimes the sentence makes little or no sense, but if I check the grammar, it can help me out. For example, recently I heard what sounded like they were saying "You need your name" in Spanish, "Tu necesita su nombre." At first I thought that was an odd sentence. Then I realized that grammatically, it should be either "Tu necesitas tu nombre" or "Usted necesita su nombre," so I must have been hearing it wrong. In fact, they were saying "Tu necesitas un hombre," which means "You need a man."

However I still can't tell the difference between the queen (la reina) and the sand (la arena - the first and second a's blend together) except via context.

Comments

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

Ha, I love your examples. And I had to ask my boyfriend to learn about "There, but for the grace of God go I."

Of course we often get the words AND the meaning wrong. ('Scuse me, while I kiss this guy.)

I do plan to get into more natural practice, but I'm still enjoying these training wheels for now.