As much as everyone hates Duolingo I am using it, I understand the issues with it as it does not explain how this sentence works, so here is where I am asking for help.
There is a sentence “一緒に公園に行きませんか？”
I understood it as “Will you not go to the park with me (together)?”
But it said the translation is “Do you want to go to the park together?” Or something similar.
I was under the impression that ‘ません’ made the sentence negative, but the translation implies that is not the case.
Can someone break this down for me and help me understand why? And what would the sentence be if it was positive then? Would it make a difference?
6 comments
This is one of those rare cases where the Japanese reminds me of English.
So it’s literally like: “Will you not go to the park with me?”
But if someone asks you that, you would probably know they mean:
“Would you like to go to the park with me?”
Overall you are understanding pretty well otherwise. GL HF.
For whatever reason it’s very unusual to say that in English, but “Won’t you go to the park with me?” is quite a normal way to ask it.
As in Japanese, using “Won’t you?” sounds rather polite in English, and so does “行きませんか？” in Japanese.
i highly recommend following some kind of ordered learning unit other than duolingo, or at least in combination with it. genki, tae kim, japanese from zero, anything. this kind of usage pattern should come up before it’s thrown at a learner this way.
the quick answer is that negative questions are the polite way to invite or suggest. think “won’t you please come this way”.
You can think of it like “wouldn’t you take a walk with me in the park?”
Others have covered this already, but “Will you not go to the park together with me?” is a literal translation, which happens to more or less work in English. “Do you want to go to the park together?” is a translation that conveys the same meaning in more natural English.
For this phrase, it isn’t as important, but if you get to a phrase such as のどがかわいた, you probably don’t want to literally translate it as “My throat is dry,” even though that is what you are literally saying. It is better to translate it as, “I’m thirsty,” because that’s what it means in practice.
Duolingo isnt bad as a study aid. It’s just teach new things its not great with.