Is Rosetta Stone Wrong?

Question

From Rosetta Stone V2.0.8.1A, Level 2, Unit 11, Lesson 1:

I have a piece of tape stuck on my back. Can you take it off?

Their translation of this is:

Tengo un pedazo de cinta adhesiva pegada a mi espalda. ¿Me la puedes quitar?

Question: Is this translation correct with respect to the la in the question ¿Me la puedes quitar?

Since the reference is to the piece of tape (pedazo), which is masculine, I would have expected it to be ¿Me lo puedes quitar?

Thanks in advance for your opinions.

Answer 1

"Me lo puedes quitar" is what one would expect, but you can always make the psychological leap, forget the word "pedazo", and think only about the tape. In this case, the person who says "¿Me la puedes quitar'" would be thinking "¿Me puedes quitar la cinta adesiva de la espalda'", regardless of the fact that it is a piece or not. This can easily happen in real life.

In a formal, strict exercise, it should have been "lo".

Answer 2

you're right. because it is the piece not the tape. the tape is just a modifier saying what its a piece of. So it should be lo

Unless thats some other weird spanish rule im not aware of...

Answer 3

I think we've had this question before, but I can't recall the a definitive answer.

The case is where you have a noun +prepositional phrase .
handful of dirt
libra de carne

Is the prepositional phrase acting as an adjective to modify the noun (noun adjective) or is the noun acting as an adjective to modify a prepositional phrase acting as a noun (adjective noun)? clear as mud?

If we could clear that up, then the gender of the pronoun would be easily determined.

In the translation ( if it is correct) the noun piece is acting as an adjective modifying the noun phrase of tape Hence the la referring to cinta. 1) adjective noun

In your question you are postulating that the adjective phrase (prepositional phrase) of tape modifys the noun piece. Therefore, the pronoun referring to the noun should be lo.
2) noun adjective

It would be nice if when you said piece of tape in spanish the piece and tape were made to agree in gender, then any pronoun referring to them would be obvious in gender. But who decides which gender to use if they are disparate as in this case?

Sorry about all the hot air that didn't answer your question.

"In a formal, strict exercise, it should have been "la". "
Perhaps Lazarus could explain why that is in more detail? Is it just a matter of the author's intention or what he was referring to in his mind when he wrote the pronoun'

Answer 4

Quentin said:

I think we've had this question before, but I can't recall the a definitive answer.Is the prepositional phrase acting as an adjective to modify the noun (noun adjective) or is the noun acting as an adjective to modify a prepositional phrase acting as a noun (adjective noun)? clear as mud?

Grammatically speaking, the important word is "pedazo", and the prepositional phrase is complementing it like an adjective would. Nouns don't modify prepositional phrases as if they were adjectives, specially when the function of the preposition "de" is to subordinate what follows to the previous word (pedazo, in this case).

Answer 5

That clears it up for me. Thank you very much as always.

DIV>. Nouns don't modify prepositional phrases as if they were adjectives, specially when the function of the preposition "de" is to subordinate what follows to the previous word (pedazo, in this case).

Answer 6

rosetta stone is right is la

because you are taking off the tape
and tape is cinta is with "a" so yea is la
any more doubts just ask