The Gathering French Note: sitesurf

Showing posts with label sitesurf. Show all posts

Thursday, March 17, 2016

mien, le mien & à moi

Sitesurf

There are several points of interest here:

"the child is mine" will not translate to "l'enfant est mien", because "mien" (and other possessives) are no longer used without a definite article in modern French. Only in old poetry and literature can you still find a possessive pronoun without a definite article.
"le XX est mien" has been replaced by "le XX est à moi"
"le XX est le mien" is not correct either, since twice "le" blurs the very meaning of this sentence. Considering that "le XX" is specific (the XX), it cannot be specified a second time. If there were a choice between several XX, and then you could say "ce XX est le mien". If there is no choice, the only correct construction is "le XX est à moi".

So, back to your examples:

the child is mine = l'enfant est à moi
she is mine = elle est à moi (+ elle m'appartient)
he is mine = il est à moi (+ il m'appartient)
the book is mine = le livre est à moi - le livre m'appartient
the cat is mine = le chat est à moi - le chat m'appartient

In addition:

this/that child is mine = cet enfant est à moi/le mien
this/that book is mine = ce livre est à moi/le mien/m'appartient
this/that cat is mine = ce chat est à moi/le mien/m'appartient
it is mine = il est à moi, elle est à moi, c'est le mien, c'est la mienne, c'est à moi

Note: "il est le...", "elle est la...", "ils sont les..." and "elles sont les..." still need to be replaced by "c'est le..." in singular and "ce sont les..." in plural, according to the rule about modified nouns after the verb "être" in 3rd person singular and plural.

https://www.duolingo.com/comment/14225334$comment_id=14228385
https://www.duolingo.com/comment/7537452
https://www.duolingo.com/comment/434845

être + noun (no article)

Sitesurf

A few nouns describing people can also work the same way: elle est témoin de..., il est victime de..., ils sont élèves..., elles sont championnes...

https://www.duolingo.com/comment/14219021$comment_id=14222337

Sitesurf

"nous sommes frères" and "ils sont frères" are identical in construction, where "frères" works as an adjective.

"nous sommes des frères" is not impossible, "frères" is a noun and "des" is the plural indefinite article. In singular, you can say "je suis un frère de XX", meaning that XX has at least one other brother.

"ils sont des frères" is grammatically incorrect, because "ils sont + modified noun" automatically turns to "ce sont + modified noun". (Reminder: a modifier can be an article, a demonstrative or possessive adjective, a number).

"Ce sont frères" does not work either and this is why I pointed to "ils sont frères" or "ce sont des frères" and not "ils sont des frères".

These constructions are specific to the verb "être", so they do not apply to the verb "avoir": j'ai un frère, j'ai des frères.

I gave you other nouns acting as adjectives on another thread, but again this is unique to the verb "être" (or "devenir" or "rester"): un témoin, une victime, un(e) élève, un champion...

https://www.duolingo.com/comment/14220971$comment_id=14222310

Noun + de + noun (no article)

A "noun of noun" case happens when the second noun gives some information on the first noun's content, material or purpose:

content: une bouteille de lait = a bottle of milk
material: un pont de pierre = a stone bridge
purpose: un couteau de cuisine = a kitchen knife.

As you can see, this French construction does not exactly match English where a noun can become an adjective if you place it in front of another noun. In French, you cannot use a noun as an adjective.

Written by Sitesurf@https://www.duolingo.com/comment/14079873$comment_id=14082490

merci

"tous mes remerciements", "merci beaucoup", "grand merci", "mille fois merci" or "mille mercis" are used.
Written by Sitesurf@https://www.duolingo.com/comment/252197

reflexive verbs keep reflexive pronouns

Sitesurf

[For the negative,] In the imperative mood, the subject disappears. However, reflexive verbs keep their reflexive pronoun:

n'écoute pas ! n'écoutons pas ! n'écoutez pas !
ne t'inquiète pas ! ne nous inquiétons pas ! ne vous inquiétez pas !

https://www.duolingo.com/comment/13840748$comment_id=13869707

de/des, neuf/neuve & nouveau/nouvelle

RoniG

Why is it "de" and not "des" if the items are plural?

Sitesurf

Because the adjective is in front of the noun.

"des recettes nouvelles" but "de nouvelles recettes"

In front of an adjective, the indefinite, plural article "des" becomes "de".

Johnny446750

How come it's not neuves? Since she writes (not copies) the recipes.

Sitesurf

Something "neuf/neuve" is just out of the factory, so "une recette" will not be described as "neuve".

Johnny446750

Hmm, if a writer is writing a book, not published yet, is he writing un neuf livre or un nouveau livre? It sounds like a writer writes un nouveau livre but a publisher publishes un neuf livre (first edition). Is that correct?

Sitesurf

"Un nouveau livre", for the same reason. The making of the book is not so much in printing it but rather in writing it.

So, yes, "un livre neuf" (never used/read) will be just out of the printing plant, even if it is the 12th edition and/or the writer died 2 centuries ago.

https://www.duolingo.com/comment/211316$comment_id=13756219

quoi

Sitesurf

"quoi" never starts a question.

It is used either with a preposition: à quoi, de quoi, par quoi...

or as a direct object in informal questions: elle lit quoi ?

https://www.duolingo.com/comment/13676043$comment_id=13711492

imparfait

Sitesurf

The "imparfait" tense suggests a certain duration in the past, that is generally translated with the continuous preterit, so the right translation should be "he was not doing anything".

""He did not do anything" translates in "il n'a rien fait".

___

Other notes:

il ne faisait rien (depuis des mois) = he had not been doing anything (for months).

Il ne fait rien = He does nothing

Il n'a fait rien = he didn't do anything

il ne faisait rien = He was not doing anything

ce n'était rien = it was nothing

cela ne faisait rien = Nothing mattered/that did not do anything

Il faisait tout = he used to do/make everything

lever

il a levé le prix après avoir gagné le jeu.

Sitesurf

"lever le prix" is to lift it above your head to show it to your fans. You can also say "brandir, soulever, porter à bout de bras".

"pick it up" from some place is "aller chercher le prix, (aller) récupérer le prix, (aller) prendre possession du prix"

essayer and nettoyer

Verbs ending in -ayer (like "essayer") have two possibble conjugations with je, tu, il/elle/on and elles/ils. So, you can, interchangeably, use the "i" version (essaie/s), or the "y" version (essaye/s).

That difference is meant to accommodate pronunciation which can be different in various French speaking areas: [ ε ] ou [ εj ] ("essè" ou "esseille").

So you can use:

"J'essaie" or "j'essaye" - "tu essaies" ou "tu essayes" - "il/elle/on essaie" or "il/elle/on essaye" - "ils/elles essaient" or "ils/elles essayent"

However, with "nous" and "vous", you should use "y" because the sound [ j ] is maintained:

nous essayons [ εjõ ] vous essayez [ εjé ]

For verbs in -oyer ("nettoyer"= to clean), you have no choice, the "i" version prevails. Je nettoie, tu nettoies, il/elle/on nettoie [ netwa ]
Written by Sitesurf@https://www.duolingo.com/comment/242649

demander à vs. demander de

demander à manger quelque chose (the one who will eat is the same as the one asking for something to eat)
demander de faire quelque chose (he one doing something is not the person asking for something to be done)

Written by Sitesurf@https://www.duolingo.com/comment/242649