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I found his a theif

de Alkanadi, 26 mai 2016

Contribuții/Mesaje: 20

Limbă: English

Alkanadi (Arată profil) 26 mai 2016, 14:48:24

I was reading through an old textbook. Unfortunately, the author is dead so they can't explain this for me.

Does this mean that I discovered he was a thief, or does it mean that I found a thief for him to hire?
Mi trovis lin ŝtelisto

How would you say:
- I found the dog a bone.
- I found him a wife.
- I found the car a shop.

nornen (Arată profil) 26 mai 2016, 14:52:17

I found out that he was a thief.

tommjames (Arată profil) 26 mai 2016, 15:05:49

Alkanadi:How would you say:
- I found the dog a bone.
Mi trovis por la hundo oston.

erinja (Arată profil) 26 mai 2016, 15:38:06

Mi trovis por li edzinon.

Mi trovis por la auxto riparejon.

Your sentence about the thief has omitted the word "esti", but it can be understood through context. This is sometimes done, although it diminishes clarity of meaning, so you should include the "esti" if you want to be completely clear - "mi trovis lin esti sxtelisto".

Vestitor (Arată profil) 26 mai 2016, 16:05:41

The sentence should be easy to fathom because the same element 'to be' (or esti as it is here) is routinely dropped in English in everyday speech and sometimes in writing.

I found him (to be) a thief.

Until I saw Erinja's translation of the last sentence I couldn't even work out what it was supposed to mean. A 'shop' is a 'workshop' is AE I gather?

erinja (Arată profil) 26 mai 2016, 16:43:43

Vestitor:The sentence should be easy to fathom because the same element 'to be' (or esti as it is here) is routinely dropped in English in everyday speech and sometimes in writing.

I found him (to be) a thief.

Until I saw Erinja's translation of the last sentence I couldn't even work out what it was supposed to mean. A 'shop' is a 'workshop' is AE I gather?
I took it to mean a workshop for auto repairs. In the US, it's common to say "my car's in the shop" if the car is undergoing repairs. The term AE is not used here (or at least, I've never heard it).

Vestitor (Arată profil) 26 mai 2016, 17:21:23

Do people not say American English (AE)? I thought that was normal because people mention it on Duolingo sometimes.

I have heard the word 'shop' meaning workshop and also referring to something like: what you are doing when you are involved in some sort of craft or manual skill. I got this from a book called: Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work. A great book I'd recommend to anyone who hasn't read it.

At first it didn't compute when I read the sentence above because it's not standard in the UK.

erinja (Arată profil) 26 mai 2016, 18:06:41

AE is American English but in the context I assumed it had something to do with a British name for an auto repair facility.

...then I googled AE and found that it stands for "auto electrical" or "auto electrics" and thought, ah, that must be an alternate British term for a car repair facility.

Vestitor (Arată profil) 26 mai 2016, 18:19:37

It's a proper comedy of errors. 'Separated by a common language,' and all that.

Fenris_kcf (Arată profil) 26 mai 2016, 18:26:52

Alkanadi:Mi trovis lin ŝtelisto
I didn't know that this is valid Esperanto. To be honest i still doubt it is. It seems way too idiomatic for my taste. I wouldn't understand it.

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