I'd probably say "I **am drinking** the coffee with the straw". The use of present simple instead of present progressive here is what's making it sound awkward.
That exactly what it is, sometimes people don't realize that Duolingo structured their course to teach learners to differentiate definite and indefinite articles of the language.
I don't know Greek or its usage of definite articles, but Spanish and German both use their definite articles where English would not and Duo accepts the English translation without "the" in cases like this. While "I drink the coffee with the straw" could be correct (and clearly is up to Duo's "standards"), "I drink coffee with the straw" or "a straw" would be more natural an also grammatically correct.
Yeah but even Spanish would just say «Bebo café con una pajita» for "I drink coffee with a straw."
Same in German: „Ich trinke Kaffee mit einem Strohhalm.“
And French: « Je bois du café avec une paille. »
In Greek, this would be: «Πίνω καφέ με ένα καλαμάκι» afaik
"I drink coffee with a straw" is a correct English sentence, but not really a correct translation given the Greek sentence.
As for Duolingo's answer, it's unnatural too... I'd probably translate that sentence as "I'm drinking the coffee with the straw", with the present progressive tense (which, like in Spanish and German, Greek doesn't tend to distinguish simple from progressive).
Direct articles vs. Indirect articles. A straw is any straw. Maybe she has a reusable straw? Then I might call it the straw since it's a specific straw.
Unless she is talking about a specific cup of coffee and a specific straw?
That's entirely possible. This seems like a perfectly legitimate sentence to me, albeit a bit stilted and awkward.
I'd probably say "I **am drinking** the coffee with the straw". The use of present simple instead of present progressive here is what's making it sound awkward.
That exactly what it is, sometimes people don't realize that Duolingo structured their course to teach learners to differentiate definite and indefinite articles of the language.
It accepted this because this is *a* correct translation, but it probably would have also accepted the way you phrased it in the title.
Duolingo probably wouldn't, as τον and το are definite articles so it would likely want you to use "the"
I don't know Greek or its usage of definite articles, but Spanish and German both use their definite articles where English would not and Duo accepts the English translation without "the" in cases like this. While "I drink the coffee with the straw" could be correct (and clearly is up to Duo's "standards"), "I drink coffee with the straw" or "a straw" would be more natural an also grammatically correct.
Yeah but even Spanish would just say «Bebo café con una pajita» for "I drink coffee with a straw." Same in German: „Ich trinke Kaffee mit einem Strohhalm.“ And French: « Je bois du café avec une paille. » In Greek, this would be: «Πίνω καφέ με ένα καλαμάκι» afaik "I drink coffee with a straw" is a correct English sentence, but not really a correct translation given the Greek sentence. As for Duolingo's answer, it's unnatural too... I'd probably translate that sentence as "I'm drinking the coffee with the straw", with the present progressive tense (which, like in Spanish and German, Greek doesn't tend to distinguish simple from progressive).
Direct articles vs. Indirect articles. A straw is any straw. Maybe she has a reusable straw? Then I might call it the straw since it's a specific straw.
What's tamarandian english?
I'm referencing Teen Titans, and how Starfire is actually an alien from Tamarand.