These English Sentences Don't Quite Sound Right To Me .....

[Gizmonster]

So I've been learning Spanish for a while now and I've currently been translating some sentences form English to Spanish - but in this section, the English sentences don't quite sound right to me.
I think it's called the past perfect tense (also called the pluperfect).

The English sentences are as follows:
1. He hadn't had breakfast yet when we went to school
2. I hadn’t read the book yet when I saw the movie.
3. He hadn’t watched the movie yet when he read the book.
4. Fortunately, the plane hadn’t left yet when we arrived.
5. I washed the dishes because you hadn't washed them yet.
6. In 1970, my dad hadn't met my mom yet.
7. Your parents hadn't gotten married yet in 1980, had they?

Is it just me, because the use of the word "yet" in the past perfect doesn't quite sound right??

In sentence 1, I would replace "yet" with "still":
He still hadn't had breakfast when we went to school

In fact, I'd probably do the same with all of them.

Any thoughts??

[barry1010]

I would drop 'yet' from all of them and not substitute a different word.

"He hadn't had breakfast when we went to school" works for me as does all the others sentences.

[JimF]

It's quite common in Romance languages that they use the same word for 'yet' and 'still', and that seems to be what's happening here.

He still hadn't had breakfast when we went to school.

[Tilly2]

...and gotten should be got. Sentence 7

Is this an American course?

[Barquentine]

The use of "yet" in each one makes sense and looks grammatically correct, but it seems a bit over-processed to use it every time you have the Pluperfect Tense (I had gone/I had arrived). Are they all an AI translation? That's the sort of thing AI might do. I can't agree with replacing 'yet' with 'still' in the first one. That would make sense but a better position for the emphasis 'still' is giving would be "I still hadn't had breakfast...."

[Peter Pedant]

yeah, it is ancora in Italian and seems to be aun in Thpanith.

I am not sure if Thpanith can do - by the time he arrives at school he will have eaten his breakfast

French and Italian - no two simple futures with suitable adverbs

This is pure Saussure linguistics - languages across borders but in the same time ( synchronic) have more variations ( he used sheep mutton and mouton) than those of a different time ( diachronic ) - name might have been pronounced narmer but has the same meaning as 400 y ago

available on project gutenberg

[Calibax]

I think it is the position of the 'yet' that makes it sound clunky.
Perhaps
He hadn't yet had breakfast when...
I hadn't yet read the book...

[Gizmonster]

//// Is this an American course? ////

Yea, it's Duolingo and the English is American English. I regularly see words such as favourite spelt as favorite, although it does accept both words.

All the translations are not AI, they've been input by a "human".

[Old_Geezer]

Yeah, I used that for years. Some of the translations were a bit suspect.

[Peter Pedant]

dont forget the internet versions of el Pais and um the others

At my thpanith language school I thought I was ready for the paper version after
seven days

[jno]

they look fine to me. "Still" has a slightly more intense emphasis - "Are youquote[still] here?" suggests that you've asked the question before, or the person has been here an unusually long time; (I *still* hadn't read the book; dad *still* hadn't met mom, the *plane* still hadn't left). "Yet" doesn't carry that implication.

Given the past tense, "yet" is seldom vital to the sense, but it's very common in conversational speech. There may be a Spanish equivalent, I don't know.

[elliemay1]

Agree with Calibax on the position of 'yet' and also with Tilly that it should be 'got' in No.7
'Your parents hadn't yet got married in 1980, had they?'

[jno]

the matter of got/gotten isn't going to make any difference to the Spanish translation. Unless maybe Uruguayans speak differently from Spanish.

(I think it's only Spaniards who pronouce S as TH, because one of the kings lisped?)

[retrocop]

“Yet”and “still” are much the same in Spanish - “todavia” being the word for them both. It sounds like someone has translated these sentences direct from the Spanish, but as they may not be English it sounds odd to us. I guess the person is Spanish and learnt some Americanisms or else from South America - the reason they used that awful word “gotten”!

[JimF]

"I think it's only Spaniards who pronouce S as TH"

For the record, Spaniards do not under any circumstances pronounce S like TH. They pronounce C and Z like TH.

The Spanish word for Spain is "España" - it is not pronounced like eth-PAN-ya.

[jno]

how are you with "forgotten", retro? For some reason the Limeys changed the ending of one word but not the other; the Yanks stayed consistent.

[jno]

sank you, JimF

[JimF]

Or "ill-gotten" as in gains.

Also, all English speakers say "got" in the expression "got to" which means "must" / "have to". No one would say "I've gotten to go home now".

[retrocop]

JimF - the Spanish from Andalusia do pronounce an “s” as “th”. It is their regional accent, called “hablan con la “c” (thay). You’re correct about the “c” and “z” though.

[retrocop]

jno- forgotten is the correct past participle in English. Gotten is not correct in English. It is an Americanism. In fact the word “got” used to be frowned upon as slang usage.

[JimF]

"the Spanish from Andalusia"

Do they? I've never heard that before.

https://www.google.com/search?q=andalusian+spanish+accent&rlz=1C1CHBF_en-GBGB977GB977&oq=Andalusian+Spanish+accent&;aqs=chrome.0.0i512j0i22i30j0i390i650l4.10430j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&;vld=cid:173dba37,vid:DA8WrXc2X5o