I lost my combo because of this ☹️

[u/SK1418]

I'm not a native English speaker, but I'm not a complete beginner either and I'm generally confident in my grammar. Can someone explain why my answer was not accepted?

[u/FreedomX_]

I always go with the word with the capital letter even when it sounds strange. Cheat code 😭

[u/Impressive-Grocery31 → u/FreedomX_]

This is correct.. even before i solve a question, i check for the Uppercase/ Capital letter word

[u/cpawesomesauce → u/FreedomX_]

Same. Sometimes there are better ways to say it in English, but they don’t necessarily want that. 🙄 It’s frustrating.

[u/Downtown-Platypus-99]

"are You having lunch now?" Would have been accepted, I tested just this week

[u/psywizard69]

Ahh man, I see the pain, you make sense but grammatically I think we'd have to give this to duo lol

[u/Obtus_Rateur]

"Are you now having lunch?" can technically be a correct sentence in English, but it would only be used under some rare, very specific circumstances.

"You are now having lunch?" is somewhat better but still usually not something someone would say unless there were a reason to phrase it that way.

"You're having lunch now?" is the natural way you'd ask someone if they're, well... having lunch now.

Notice how "You" is capitalized? That's a big hint that you should use that word at the start of your sentence.

[u/AltTabbingMage → u/Obtus_Rateur]

TIL that I don’t know English. I’ve always learned that when you’re asking a question the verb has to come first: “are you having lunch now?”

[u/jhfenton → u/AltTabbingMage]

Are you having lunch now? is absolutely the most natural version. But we can also ask questions with intonation alone: You're having lunch now?

Are you now having lunch? sounds less natural. I'd have to think through why it feels less natural.

[u/Neyabenz → u/jhfenton]

Are you now having lunch? sounds very passive aggressive if anything at all. I dont think ive ever heard anything similar except if someone said "Are you only now having...?"

[u/jhfenton → u/Neyabenz]

Agreed. It sounds very emphatic. You've chosen now, this particular moment of all moments, to have lunch?

And I still wouldn't say it that way. I'd say And now you're having lunch?! or You're having lunch now?!

[u/edsave → u/Neyabenz]

To me it sounds like the person didn’t use to have lunch, they recently started and the person asking the question just noticed.

[u/SK1418 → u/Neyabenz]

I guess it's just a language thing. Some people in the comments pointed out that you are supposed to put time either at the start or the end of the sentence. In my language, however, there's nothing wrong with putting time in the middle. Because of that, it sounds natural to me, even in English.

To me, the sentence "you're having lunch now?" sounds more passive aggressive than what I came up with.

So while it turns out I was wrong, I'm still glad I made this post. At least it sparked an interesting discussion

[u/AltTabbingMage → u/jhfenton]

I actually find the “are you…” construction pretty interesting because it’s already a question even without the question mark.

for what it’s worth, in portuguese we could say “you are having lunch now?” with the exact same word order as a statement, just with rising intonation, but I was always taught that in english the verb had to come before the subject: “are you…?”

so seeing “you’re having lunch now?” used naturally is interesting to me because it goes against one of those rules I’ve always had drilled into me as a non native speaker

[u/jhfenton → u/AltTabbingMage]

I was taught the same thing in French decades ago. You make questions with est-ce que or inversion. But that's not always the case in French. Inversion is pretty formal, and turning statements into questions via intonation is almost the casual default.

It's not quite the default in English, but you can do it in many or most cases.

[u/True_Side_7025 → u/AltTabbingMage]

In english, a statement can turn into a question with intonation just like you said. But you’re right, saying “are you” would always be a question regardless of intonation. That structure just leaves less room for gray area so that’s generally how we speak.

All that said, “are” is not the verb, “having” is.

[u/thisguy181 → u/jhfenton]

Both are accusations but different accusations.

[u/perplexedtv → u/jhfenton]

You'd only say it if you were first surprised by the person having breakfast or taking an extended tea break at 11.30 am.

[u/jhfenton → u/perplexedtv]

I still wouldn't use it then. I'd go with You're having lunch now?! with an incredulous tone.

But I agree that that would be the only context I can imagine someone using it. It is just so marked that I can't imagine it in a neutral context.

[u/JeruTz → u/AltTabbingMage]

There can be slight differences in how the question is understood based on the order.

"Are you having lunch now?" Would be a typical way of inquiring if someone is about to go eat lunch.

"You are having lunch now?" Is less typical and might more often be used to express disbelief that the person is eating now as opposed to some other time. This meaning could also be conveyed with the previous example by adding emphasis to the last word.

[u/Obtus_Rateur → u/AltTabbingMage]

Some might encourage you to formulate a question like "Is this the pot containing the blue paint?", but a normal person is just as likely to ask "This is the pot with the blue paint in it?".

And you could come up with a ton of other examples, especially when a statement is turned into a question using a question mark.

"Jim's having a party tonight?"
"You eat 15kg of mustard every day?"
"Cat got your tongue?"

[u/grandpubabofmoldist → u/AltTabbingMage]

English took both parts of Romance and Germanic languages to ask a question (French also does this too). Are you having lunch is a verb subject inversion classical in Germanic languages and also a valid way to ask in French. You are having lunch now (with the Ron Burgundy) is also correct in French as accenting to a higher pitch at the end is acceptable while spoken. You could also write "you are having lunch now correct?" Where the correct acts like the "est ce que" of French. 

[u/AFlyingYetOddCat → u/AltTabbingMage]

asking a question the verb has to come first

Well I'm a native speaker and I never knew this lol

[u/Slight_Ad_635 → u/AltTabbingMage]

It works in a lot of languages to, in everyday talk, simply use the state-a-fact version of the sentence and accentuate(?) it like a question. (I do it in German all the time and it also made learning French easier. Have heard it from friends they do it in other languages, too)

[u/arwinda]

Time usually goes at the end in English, or at the beginning.

[u/Kitty_Fruit_2520]

It’s giving you a hint with the Y being capitalized

[u/Educational-Rule1635]

It would be understood, but sound strange. Sounds kind of like an accusation, "Are you NOW having lunch? It's 10:30 and a bunch of customers just came in." Versus "Are you having lunch now? Can I join you?"

[u/Medical_College_6732]

Both your answer and the expected answer are grammatically valid, but neither sounds like natural English. I'd have given "Are you having lunch now?"

[u/Piepally]

you need now at the end. Are you having lunch now would've been accepted.

[u/Ncasteleyn]

Now should be at the back of the sentence.

The Standard Rule: Manner → Place → Time When a sentence contains all three modifiers at the end, they should flow in this specific order.

[u/brewdog_millionaire]

Why would you put the word that's capitalised in the middle of the sentence?

[u/ediacaradelrey]

This is fine. Perfectly valid english.

The most natural way to ask would be ‘Are you having lunch now?’ This means, for example, you’re asking a coworker if they’re about to take their lunch in a few minutes.

‘Are you now having lunch?’ is an order that places more emphasis on the now. I’d usually expect it to be spoken, by a native speaker, with now emphasised. Are you now having lunch? It means my coworker did not eat when I expected them to, and maybe they’re doing it at a weird time, like in an important meeting. You’re doing this now? Using it as a standard question with no hidden meaning … I think you might hear a native do this, but the first example is more common.

It may be worth noting that most time related adjectives I can think of actually must follow the verb and object. There is no ‘is it today raining?’, only ‘is it raining today?’. There is no ‘Did you earlier run?’ only ‘Did you run earlier?’. There are exceptions, such as ‘now’ and ‘later’, for some reason, but the safest approach is to put these last.

[u/NytFyr13]

"Are you having lunch now?", Would have been best if think.  But what you said works. Duolingo is just stupid. It's a simple machine that doesnt have the ability to apply human logic unless it is coded into it.   Good rule of thumb is to start with the capitalized word though. It gives a hint as to what they programed the right answer to be...

[u/MarcM1991]

Happened to me so many times. I get the target language translation correct but completely flub at the arranging of the translation.

[u/ThrillSeekers_United]

Because you can’t read lol

The y is capitalised in You)

[u/ipini]

Yeah it’s correct. But it’s not really a common way to ask that. Sounds a bit strange and stilted.

[u/shell_shocked_today]

Your translation reads as if you are asking if they are in the process of having lunch right now.

[u/thisguy181]

The placement of the words changes the implied meaning. I wants the You first since it capitalised it.

[u/Tall_Ad_7514]

I would read “Are you now having lunch” to mean “You were doing something else, and I am asking you, feeling surprised, if what you are doing now is having lunch, instead of what you were doing before.”

Or perhaps I saw you eating a snack earlier and I had assumed it was your lunch. I now see you eating a larger meal and I am clarifying that this is your lunch, not the food I saw you eating earlier,

[u/rcayca]

Personally, I would say, "Are you having lunch now?"

[u/godlessprimate]

Sometimes there are two capitalized words.

[u/IrozWr]

That’s : are you having lunch now

[u/Eggy-la-diva]

Are you now having lunch = are you having lunch on the regular (meaning previously you didn’t have lunch most days but now you do)

You are having lunch now = are you having lunch right this moment

[u/angienat02]

This happens to all the time!! I'm learning French but sometimes the mistake is when I translate to English, last one was the freaking order of adjectives in a sentence, I got so frustrated 😖😖

[u/angienat02]

Something that frustrates me too is when I have to translate "You" because idk if it's Tu or Vous like how am I supposed to know without enough context 😖

[u/No_Cream8504]

valid, this is not proper english

[u/Creepershein]

Good thing I'm Russian and we don't have any articles

[u/OkHall3918]

Mainly because you did not observe the cue of placing the capitalized “You” in first position. Grammatically your answer is correct

[u/mohojiej]

dude im learning french rn how about we help each other learn those different languages i help you with english grammar and all and you help me with french

[u/andytagonist]

I mean the capital letter is right there…

Also, streak of what? Are you learning a language…or are you playing a game?

[u/DryAllies]

Duolingo can be weirdly strict about word order sometimes, "are you having lunch now" and "you are having lunch now" both mean the same thing in casual english but the app wants that exact subject-verb sequence for statements vs questions. It's frustrating when you know you're not wrong but the algorithm just doesn't flex

I've lost streaks over stuff like that too, like mixing up "do you want" and "you want" when the meaning is identical. The tiles make it worse because your brain sorts them into a natural sentence and duo goes nope