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- Topic: French >
- "Ils aiment leur chien."
24 Comments
@Sultan, LJV and Kknaga. The solution given at the top of this page uses Like. Maybe there is a bug? Yes, Aimer can be both Like and Love. The guide I've learnt from Sitesurf is Aimer applied to people=Love. To mean Like it needs a modifier such as Bien/Beaucoup. Aimer applied to anything else=Like. To mean Love in those contexts maybe Adore is appropriate.
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But I don't know how you would notice a difference in singular male or plural male dogs when talking.
Hello Anonemuss, it is clear that "They" and "Their" are plural. There is indeed no way from the voicebot to tell whether there are dogs or just the one dog.This is it, on the word alone there is no way to audibly distinguish between plural and singular. It seems French was invented to confuse the English. Take heart, just like the French had to do we just learn it by practice practice, practice. In written form though, and this is worth noting, I think (And I may be wrong) It would be Leurs chiens and there would be a hint of the S in Leurs. I wait to be corrected. Gosh isnt this fun?
@Nerukuroic. Yes but a little more specific I think. Certainly when Aimer is applied to people and pets according to the ever-trustworthy Sitesurf. However on this page Duo has gone and contradicted that and solved the task with Like!. For my money I'll trust Sitesurf everytime. When one wishes to express a Liking for a person or pet Sitesurf says that Aimer should be modified with bien/beaucoup. So I'll stick my neck out here and suggest that Duo is incorrect in its solution to this task. The translation should be "They love their dog". For the translation to be "They like their dog" the french should be "Ils aiment bien/beaucoup leur chien". (Please excuse me as I duck behind that wall and await the "flack"!)
JJ there is no need to hide behind the wall - your explanation is spot on. Here the possessive implies that the dog is a pet.
There is some inconsistency with the way this issue is handled by DL - this is because initially a more liberal translation was used. These exercises are being corrected as and when the moderators spot them.