Participle question

R Z.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Participle question

I know that it's not the topic of this lesson, but in the sample sentence "Luis y Marta se han vuelto una pareja aburrida," the translation given is "Luis and Marta have become a boring couple." Why not "Luis and Marta have become a bored couple"? 

Asked 4 years ago
InmaKwiziq team member

Hola R,

aburrido/-a can mean either bored or boring; we have the same word/form for these, unlike in English: -ing/ -ed, so you need to guess what it means by the context. 

What we mean in this sentence is "the couple have become less interesting as a couple -> "son una pareja aburrida", not "la pareja está aburrida"; in other words, "the couple is boring" not "the couple is bored" 

Inma

Colleen L.A1Kwiziq community member

We never use that term ‘bored couple’.  ‘Bored couple’ would assume someone/something made them that way.  The people themselves make themselves a ‘boring couple’.  The couple acts in ways that are boring.

Participle question

I know that it's not the topic of this lesson, but in the sample sentence "Luis y Marta se han vuelto una pareja aburrida," the translation given is "Luis and Marta have become a boring couple." Why not "Luis and Marta have become a bored couple"? 

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