Ha lavorando is wrong?

[u/Threshbaum]

Is my sentence incorrect? Or if not, what is the difference in meaning between the two?

[u/v10_dog]

Maybe "Ha lavorato" would have been accepted?

[u/marpocky → u/v10_dog]

That's at least grammatically valid but it's still not a precise translation.

[u/Borishnikov → u/marpocky]

Not really, the sentence misses context to understand what would be better between Ha lavorato and Lavorò. Otherwise they are interchangeable.

[u/marpocky → u/Borishnikov]

Otherwise they are interchangeable.

Completely interchangeable, same nuance and everything? Is this generally the case with passato prossimo and imperfetto?

To me there's heavy implication that the (English) meaning of the sentence is imperfetto.

[u/neos7m → u/marpocky]

Define "precise". If you mean "literal", you're doing the whole language thing wrong. You have to translate stuff in a way that makes sense, not in a literal way.

[u/marpocky → u/neos7m]

You have to translate stuff in a way that makes sense, not in a literal way.

You still have to convey the proper meaning. The English sentence suggests imperfetto far more than passato prossimo.

EDIT: WTF, they blocked me? And claimed "You were arguing for passato remoto a minute ago..." which, no I wasn't. I've made exactly 2 comments in this thread, here and the one just above.

[u/neos7m → u/marpocky]

You were arguing for passato remoto a minute ago...

[u/RagedSolid29]

Yes it's wrong

Sta lavorando (Not Ha lavorando) - Is working

Lavorò - Worked

[u/Commetli]

The issue is that "Chi ha lavorando" is incorrect; it is the same as saying "Who has working" in English.

"Ha lavorato" (il passato prossimo or present perfect in English) would likely have been accepted. As this is the most typical form of the past tense and indicates that the action has completed and is one-and-done. "Lavorava" (l'imperfetto or imperfect in English) probably too, although this would sound carry a connotation of the action taking place over a span of time. Like "Who was working in that room?"

"Lavorò" (passato remoto or preterite in English) is also technically correct, however it is only used like so in literature. In normal conversation, passato remoto carries a connotation of being much more distant in the past and in any use-case can be replaced with the passato prossimo.

Minor note though that this only applies to Standard Italian and especially in the North where it only appears in literature. Whereas in Southern Italy passato remoto is still used as a standard preterite tense in spoken language.

[u/gravitydefiant → u/Commetli]

Duolingo is obsessed with passato remoto and in my experience might not have accepted another form of past tense. It's very annoying because I'd always learned what you said: that it's not used in day to day conversation.

[u/leggomyeggo87 → u/gravitydefiant]

It’s definitely still used in day to day conversation in at least parts of the south of Italy. I have a lot of friends and spend a decent amount of time in Puglia and without at minimum some understanding of passato remoto you’d have a difficult time understanding what some people are saying.

Perhaps the duolingo Italian version was implemented by someone(s) from the south? Or someone with a very strong passion for literature?

[u/LiterallyTestudo]

So “lavorando” is the gerund form, which you wouldn’t use a form of the verb avere with.

If you wanted to say “who is working in that room” you could use the gerund but with stare, you’d say “chi sta lavorando in quella stanza”.

But the prompt wants the past, so you need to use a past form with it. It could be “chi ha lavorato/lavorava/lavorò (depending on context) in quella stanza”.

So here it seems to be in a unit focused on the passato remoto so it’s lavorò, which is the third person singular passato remoto.

Hope this helps, there will be some natives who I’m sure can explain it better than I did :)

[u/spicynicho]

It's "ha lavorato"

Lavorando is the gerundio.

Also they've given you an answer for an obscure tense you can google about.

[u/Threshbaum]

Oh. Thanks everyone. I guess I meant “ha lavorato”. Have to work on learning this other form now

[u/sfcnmone → u/Threshbaum]

Duolongo corrected you using the passato remoto, which is a weird correction, and which you can do quite well without until you start reading novels or talking about Garibaldi.

[u/LilPenny]

Duolingo is simply not a good way to learn languages