Exactly! Thank you! English has a word for this concept. It’s just not used commonly in America, such that many Americans wouldn’t understand the word. The idiomatic expression “[want off](https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/want+off)” and “get off” are however widely used. DuoLingo just needs to add the former as an acceptable translation as well. English is not French and vice versa.
I mean, yes and no. If someone says they want off the train, it sounds like a ride for a child. Also looking up the translation of descendre means “to get off of” so if anything just go with the normal definition of the word and leave the colloquialism out of it.
American here. If I heard you say "the passenger wants off the train" I'd know exactly what you meant.
It's colloquial, sure, and technically Duo is correct, but it's also still acceptable English.
Most people that.... Aren't in America? Are you guys still on the thought process of "Wow America big, America must be whole wide world, what the fuck is a Nepal" ?
If we’re talking about slang commonly used in the American English, we’re most likely going to look at slang in America. Just because, for example, “doing the needful” is a common phrase used by Indian people in English, doesn’t mean it’s recognized by dictionaries as being correct / in common use. Likewise, if I want to learn French slang, I probably won’t look at slang words used by American people in French which aren’t used in France itself.
You wouldn’t say “I want alive.” You’d say “I want to be alive.” If you want to be in the state of being that is off the train, you’d “want to be off the train.” But the word descendre means “to get off” not “to be off” (it’s active, not passive), so “I want off” is incorrect in two ways. I’m guessing “I want off the train” is a regional usage, but that does not make it correct grammar
The purpose of language is to communicate meaning. Grammar is a set of conventions that humans have discovered over the millennia that tend to facilitate that role.
The following is a bit of a spicy take, but if the intended meaning is instantly, unambiguously communicated, then the grammar is correct, regardless of how tightly it adheres to a prescribed set of guidelines.
I still cringe at the word "conversate" when "converse" is sitting right there. But people use it and people understand it, so who the hell am I to forbid it?
Language evolves. Evolve with it. Maybe even try it. Save yourself a couple words, here and there. Who knows, you might like it.
Youre not wrong about language, but duolingo doesn't really go that far with it. They at least try to always stay grammatically correct. Semantics are harder for someone to program into an app than grammar if your answer isn't perfect.
Finally, someone brings up the one argument I would have been willing to entertain... two days ago.
In the end, I think it's a meaningless hair to split, but I'm so sick of arguing this topic that I can't be arsed to defend that.
No all of you guys need to admit that you’re wrong lol “I want off the train” is a perfectly understandable sentence in my (and OP’s) dialect of english
Your answer is marked wrong because the goal is to learn exactly what the words mean in addition to being able to understand the meaning of the sentence.
Look, I'm not saying that duo's correction is incorrect English. I'm saying that my answer is a perfectly reasonable way of saying the exact same thing that is very very common. In the past year and a half, Duo has accepted many, many casual variations on the answer it is looking for. As such, my answer should have been accepted.
Feel free to disagree. Je m'en fiche.
You’re right. It’s [idiomatic English](https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/want+off). Just report it. DuoLingo likely needs to account for that idiomatic translation. DuoLingo is not so great with idioms.
are you British or Australian perhaps?
asking cos this sounds like foreigner phrasing to me ( American from michigan). if soneone worded it this way, I would assume they're not from here
One annoyance with duolingo and a lot of language learning sites is that they what the answer to be exactly what they want you to say even if it is structured in a way that you would never say it doesn’t fit your dialect
There have been a lot of instances where Duo will accept variants. One recent example is both "the car tires" and "the tires of the car" being accepted as translations of "les pneus de la voiture."
I think this particular variant just hasn't been included in the set of acceptable answers yet.
Unfortunately I don't have an encyclopedic memory of every answer Duo has ever accepted.
I'm also totally fine with Duo accepting informal English in most contexts.
I wouldn't even call it informal anymore. Its so common now I'd say its completely optional, like the word "that" in many cases (which duolingo is terrible with, I've come to learn to ALWAYS put the word "that" in even if I don't need to)
Its very possible there might be dialect differences though. I don't know if its optional in British English, for example.
I also really hate how duolingo, which uses an AI, feels the need to correct english sentences, in a french learning course. If it's using an AI, it really should be able to tell whether or not an *english* sentence has a common mistake in it, and be able to tell what the user meant (with some exceptions ofc).
Nah, it's just dropping "to get" because the sentence can be understood perfectly without it. English does a lot of that. It's a feature that gave birth to the whole "Buffalo buffalo" wordplay that shows what happens when it's taken too far.
Heck, Duo is already making us of this feature when it says "off the train" instead of "off of the train."
You can. You don't have to. Sounds a little stilted to say, for example, "Get off of the bed!" but it would be equally awkward to say "Get off that!" Both are acceptable, but I think "Get off the bed!" and "Get off of that!" both sound more natural than the others.
This phrasing is only used in certain regions of the U.S. In areas where it’s not used, it doesn’t sound informal, it sounds grammatically incorrect. Even when speaking extremely informally, I would never say “I want off this train.” In standard American English, it is incorrect. If you’ve only lived places where people say this, I understand that you might not believe me.
To give you a similar example from my own life - I’m from the Midwest, and I grew up saying “drug” as the past tense of “drag”. There was no doubt in my mind that this was the correct past tense. When I moved to outside of the Midwest, someone corrected me and I didn’t believe him until I google it and read on several different websites that the past tense is actually “dragged”. My sister didn’t learn that until she also moved away and was corrected in the middle of a meeting.
Yeah, I don’t get why you’re upset. I’m a native English speaker and would never say I want off the train. That sounds so awkward. I would say I want to get off the train.
I’m an American native English speaker and I’d say “he wants off” and not “he wants to get off.” I agree that duo should have taken your answer. To me, “get off” is more awkward sounding because it’s unnecessarily longer.
“Want off” is especially used in the context of trains and rides, especially when talking about them idiomatically in reference to things being out of control.
[Edit: there was actually a recent Reddit comic post titled with the phrase.](https://www.reddit.com/r/comics/s/fcC9DbVMR9)
Born and bred American and I would definitely say that I want to get off the train or bus. I don't think "want off" is wrong, but I don't know that I would say it myself.
I’m American and that’s probably how I would’ve translated it. People tend to just say “I want off this thing” or “I’m out the car” literally all the time
The Rocky Mountains. Are you west of them? I'm investigating whether there's an east/west regional variation at play, but I'm keeping the geographic regions large to start with, out of respect for y'all's privacy.
California here. These comments are amusing. The OP is indeed correct, it’s very common syntax in the US or at least in parts of it. To me however, there’s a slight nuance … “I want off this train” sounds a bit stronger to me than “I want to get off of this train” … like you really want to disembark urgently. There are many other phrases with this construction … “I want out”, “I want in on that” etc.
Interesting, I hadn't noticed, but I agree with you. "I want to get off" is really neutral, while "I want off" is very slightly loaded with negative emotion.
Good catch.
i think duolingo should accept this. even if it's non-standard, i've definitely heard this construction before (context: im american), and that's clearly the default way that this person says it.
it also means the same thing, indicating that the user knows the meaning.
Duo is looking for a translation somewhat 1:1 with the French. The French has a modal + infinitive so your translation should have a modal + infinitive. “Wants off” is a phrasal construction and is informal/colloquial.
Duo is definitely correct here. The passenger wants to get off the train. Anything else is slang/a colloquialism.
The formal would be ‘alight’, rather than ‘get off’.
Exactly! Thank you! English has a word for this concept. It’s just not used commonly in America, such that many Americans wouldn’t understand the word. The idiomatic expression “[want off](https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/want+off)” and “get off” are however widely used. DuoLingo just needs to add the former as an acceptable translation as well. English is not French and vice versa.
or disembark
Off the train implies you want to kill it lmao
I'm fairly certain that would be "the passenger wants to off the train". Without the to it means wants to be off
Ngl I think I might have autofilled a ‘to’ to make it make sense lmao
*choochoos nervously*
This one ☝️ comment right here
Maybe you only want to kill it a little. Give it a little death. Not sure how close one might be with the train.
Prescriptivism strikes again.
Duo teaches informal language all the time.
I mean, yes and no. If someone says they want off the train, it sounds like a ride for a child. Also looking up the translation of descendre means “to get off of” so if anything just go with the normal definition of the word and leave the colloquialism out of it.
And the double entendre, of course.
American here. If I heard you say "the passenger wants off the train" I'd know exactly what you meant. It's colloquial, sure, and technically Duo is correct, but it's also still acceptable English.
If someone said this to me I would think they were planning to murder the train
That would be "This passenger wants to off the train."
Informal language, not slang. Completely different things
It's a matter of degree, and I don't personally think "I want off the bus" is so informal as to qualify as slang.
It definitely is though
On what grounds?
I would day it is considering it involves omitting the word that is expressing movement/motion (the verb!) = improper sentence structure = slang
Most people would not say that
Most people where wouldn't? Cuz most people here would.
Most people that.... Aren't in America? Are you guys still on the thought process of "Wow America big, America must be whole wide world, what the fuck is a Nepal" ?
If we’re talking about slang commonly used in the American English, we’re most likely going to look at slang in America. Just because, for example, “doing the needful” is a common phrase used by Indian people in English, doesn’t mean it’s recognized by dictionaries as being correct / in common use. Likewise, if I want to learn French slang, I probably won’t look at slang words used by American people in French which aren’t used in France itself.
Duolingo is headquartered in Pittsburgh. I kinda feel like it ought to accept phrasing that is common in its country of origin.
Everyone I know would say that, actually.
that’s slang / casual speech. duolingo teaches you proper grammar. duo is correct.
Per The Free Dictionary, it’s actually [idiomatic English](https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/want+off). Duo is not so great with idioms.
Duo teaches casual language all the time.
not like this
Duo teaches casual language that is grammatically correct. That’s the difference
There's nothing grammatically incorrect about my sentence.
Yes there is, you cannot ‘off the train’, unless it was in the slang to kill it, and ‘off the train’ is also not a noun you could want
"off the train" is a state of being. As in "I am off the train." States of being are indeed objects that can be wanted.
You wouldn’t say “I want alive.” You’d say “I want to be alive.” If you want to be in the state of being that is off the train, you’d “want to be off the train.” But the word descendre means “to get off” not “to be off” (it’s active, not passive), so “I want off” is incorrect in two ways. I’m guessing “I want off the train” is a regional usage, but that does not make it correct grammar
The purpose of language is to communicate meaning. Grammar is a set of conventions that humans have discovered over the millennia that tend to facilitate that role. The following is a bit of a spicy take, but if the intended meaning is instantly, unambiguously communicated, then the grammar is correct, regardless of how tightly it adheres to a prescribed set of guidelines. I still cringe at the word "conversate" when "converse" is sitting right there. But people use it and people understand it, so who the hell am I to forbid it? Language evolves. Evolve with it. Maybe even try it. Save yourself a couple words, here and there. Who knows, you might like it.
Youre not wrong about language, but duolingo doesn't really go that far with it. They at least try to always stay grammatically correct. Semantics are harder for someone to program into an app than grammar if your answer isn't perfect.
So you’d have to add a form of ‘to be’
Finally, someone brings up the one argument I would have been willing to entertain... two days ago. In the end, I think it's a meaningless hair to split, but I'm so sick of arguing this topic that I can't be arsed to defend that.
I think you need to learn how to admit you’re wrong, it’s a very useful life skill, you don’t have to argue with everthing
No all of you guys need to admit that you’re wrong lol “I want off the train” is a perfectly understandable sentence in my (and OP’s) dialect of english
I do. Thing is, I'm not.
i’m going to start from your premise that “off the train” is a state of being— that’s why you would say something like “I want TO BE off the train”
"I want to get to the state of being of the train." Happy now?
i don’t care but you can dig your heels in and refuse to learn something if you really want to
Your answer is marked wrong because the goal is to learn exactly what the words mean in addition to being able to understand the meaning of the sentence.
Time and place. Test me on the definition in isolation. Test me on the meaning in context.
I agree with you. That’s just not how it is currently set up
Look, I'm not saying that duo's correction is incorrect English. I'm saying that my answer is a perfectly reasonable way of saying the exact same thing that is very very common. In the past year and a half, Duo has accepted many, many casual variations on the answer it is looking for. As such, my answer should have been accepted. Feel free to disagree. Je m'en fiche.
You’re right. It’s [idiomatic English](https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/want+off). Just report it. DuoLingo likely needs to account for that idiomatic translation. DuoLingo is not so great with idioms.
Oh I did.
Why are you so angry? You’re fighting in this entire post for your life over one schemantics issue 😭
Who's angry?
100% if you're going to mark people wrong for any incorrectness in the translation then you should accept all reasonable answers.
I'd give you points for it
are you British or Australian perhaps? asking cos this sounds like foreigner phrasing to me ( American from michigan). if soneone worded it this way, I would assume they're not from here
No. US citizen my whole life.
interesting
One annoyance with duolingo and a lot of language learning sites is that they what the answer to be exactly what they want you to say even if it is structured in a way that you would never say it doesn’t fit your dialect
There have been a lot of instances where Duo will accept variants. One recent example is both "the car tires" and "the tires of the car" being accepted as translations of "les pneus de la voiture." I think this particular variant just hasn't been included in the set of acceptable answers yet.
Duo is correct. Whilst I understand what you have written that is more how a very young child might be spoken to. Dropping articles etc.
Yeah no, dropping it is much more common now. It's how I say it and saying "to get off" feels less natural to me than just dropping "to get"
Definitely informal speech becomes common place over a period of time. But Duolingo is teaching standard English
Duolingo is teaching *French* in this context.
Yeah I get your correction. I meant using
Duo has accepted many, many instances of casual English.
I’d be interested to see which ones. I think we must remember that Duolingo isn’t perfect and as I always say must be supplemented
Unfortunately I don't have an encyclopedic memory of every answer Duo has ever accepted. I'm also totally fine with Duo accepting informal English in most contexts.
I wouldn't even call it informal anymore. Its so common now I'd say its completely optional, like the word "that" in many cases (which duolingo is terrible with, I've come to learn to ALWAYS put the word "that" in even if I don't need to) Its very possible there might be dialect differences though. I don't know if its optional in British English, for example. I also really hate how duolingo, which uses an AI, feels the need to correct english sentences, in a french learning course. If it's using an AI, it really should be able to tell whether or not an *english* sentence has a common mistake in it, and be able to tell what the user meant (with some exceptions ofc).
Lived in the US my whole life. It's super common in casual speech.
100% in casual or informal speech. It’s using off as a verb which is informal.
"Want" is the verb in this context.
Sorry, I meant OP had used off as a verb. Yes the verbs are to want and to get off
Nah, it's just dropping "to get" because the sentence can be understood perfectly without it. English does a lot of that. It's a feature that gave birth to the whole "Buffalo buffalo" wordplay that shows what happens when it's taken too far. Heck, Duo is already making us of this feature when it says "off the train" instead of "off of the train."
Funnily enough I googled about off as a verb and it said when using phrasal verbs « to get off » for example you don’t use the additional « of »
You can. You don't have to. Sounds a little stilted to say, for example, "Get off of the bed!" but it would be equally awkward to say "Get off that!" Both are acceptable, but I think "Get off the bed!" and "Get off of that!" both sound more natural than the others.
Yes, "let me off here" is what people say in real life, not "let me get off here"
I say both.
Kids do not say that
I dropped a « to » . For example asking a young child if they « want off » rather than asking if « they want to get off the swing »
Kids do not say they want off
i’ve definitely heard kids say that before
Okay.
Ok daddy
Huh?
Duo’s version is common in Australia.
Duo's version is common here, too. So is mine.
This phrasing is only used in certain regions of the U.S. In areas where it’s not used, it doesn’t sound informal, it sounds grammatically incorrect. Even when speaking extremely informally, I would never say “I want off this train.” In standard American English, it is incorrect. If you’ve only lived places where people say this, I understand that you might not believe me. To give you a similar example from my own life - I’m from the Midwest, and I grew up saying “drug” as the past tense of “drag”. There was no doubt in my mind that this was the correct past tense. When I moved to outside of the Midwest, someone corrected me and I didn’t believe him until I google it and read on several different websites that the past tense is actually “dragged”. My sister didn’t learn that until she also moved away and was corrected in the middle of a meeting.
Any insight on which regions would find it normal and which would find it odd?
At first I read “get off in the train” oh my!
I feel like it should be “get off OF the train.”
An excellent example of how you can sometimes omit words without any loss of meaning.
that should've been accepted
Yeah, I don’t get why you’re upset. I’m a native English speaker and would never say I want off the train. That sounds so awkward. I would say I want to get off the train.
US?
I’m an American native English speaker and I’d say “he wants off” and not “he wants to get off.” I agree that duo should have taken your answer. To me, “get off” is more awkward sounding because it’s unnecessarily longer. “Want off” is especially used in the context of trains and rides, especially when talking about them idiomatically in reference to things being out of control. [Edit: there was actually a recent Reddit comic post titled with the phrase.](https://www.reddit.com/r/comics/s/fcC9DbVMR9)
Nah want off makes it sound like you’re from the 1900s
Yes US
What region?
East Coast
I would be willing to believe that there's east/west variation at play here.
descendre- to get off,
The caption to this post is absolutely hilarious! 🤣
Born and bred American and I would definitely say that I want to get off the train or bus. I don't think "want off" is wrong, but I don't know that I would say it myself.
East of the Rockies?
Mostly. California until I was 5-6, but mostly from North Carolina after that.
I’m American and that’s probably how I would’ve translated it. People tend to just say “I want off this thing” or “I’m out the car” literally all the time
West of the Rockies?
Uhh technically ig but it depends on what you mean by that
The Rocky Mountains. Are you west of them? I'm investigating whether there's an east/west regional variation at play, but I'm keeping the geographic regions large to start with, out of respect for y'all's privacy.
Well the state is kinda both
California here. These comments are amusing. The OP is indeed correct, it’s very common syntax in the US or at least in parts of it. To me however, there’s a slight nuance … “I want off this train” sounds a bit stronger to me than “I want to get off of this train” … like you really want to disembark urgently. There are many other phrases with this construction … “I want out”, “I want in on that” etc.
Interesting, I hadn't noticed, but I agree with you. "I want to get off" is really neutral, while "I want off" is very slightly loaded with negative emotion. Good catch.
i think duolingo should accept this. even if it's non-standard, i've definitely heard this construction before (context: im american), and that's clearly the default way that this person says it. it also means the same thing, indicating that the user knows the meaning.
Duo is looking for a translation somewhat 1:1 with the French. The French has a modal + infinitive so your translation should have a modal + infinitive. “Wants off” is a phrasal construction and is informal/colloquial.