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- "C'est clair !"
57 Comments
Clair means light when it comes to colours: bleu clair = light blue.
C'est clair means it is clear as in no dout or no pollution.
Clair also means bright when it comes to light: un chambre clair
Or temps clair as in no clouds
Clair simply has many meanings and nuances. The word covers a whole column in my french-french dictionary.
But here, it doesn't really mean "pure", or "fair" or "bright", it's in the metaphoric sense. C'est clair = it's obvious/There's no doubts (as the "no clouds" you said) There's an expression in French. "C'est clair comme de l'eau de roche." =It's crystal-clear, litterally, it's as clear water from the rock/as spring water, maybe that expression is from this one.
Can it also say it to mean that something is obvious, i.e. "It's clear that I am not fluent?"
Can it also mean "of course"? In the same way as "det är klart" or "claro que si".
It's gender bias in languages. In Spanish we say "está claro" on its own to convey that something is clear, an idea, a situation, etc. But if you say "está clara" on its own you are most likely referring to the lightness or brightness of something. I guess it is the same in French.
No. There's no equivalent to " "está clara" in French. You can't skip the "c'est" in French, so, it will always be masculine.
Could this not also mean "it's light" (as in colour)? If something is a light colour, would you ever say, "c'est léger"?
You can't. Because "c'est clair" is an expression. And anyway "léger" and "clair" are very different in their meaning.
Not "il est évident", the correct form is "C'est évident!" Oui, "c'est clair" can mean "c'est évident" (obvious), it can also be used when you want to show your approval after a statement.
Stéphane: Il ne fait pas beau aujourd'hui!
Lucie: C'est clair!
No. It's an invariable expression (read above) and the masculine is always used with "c'est".
I put down, "I understand" and got it wrong. I was thinking of someone giving you instructions about how to do something, then saying, "C'est clair?" As in, is it clear? And me responding, "Oui, c'est clair." Or , yes, it is clear. Or yes, I am following you, or yes, "I understand"
It works for this meaning, but "I understand" is too far away from the original sentence. Just use "It's clear".
I'm sorry you can't say this is light or this is bright - but you can say this is pale? How come?
No. When you say "c'est clair!" it means "it's obvious", it's metaphorical. If you want to say "Ce tissu est clair" (this cloth is pale", it's another thing...)
Is there a way to differentiate between 'that is clear' and 'this is clear' ?
No. Not to my knowledge. Context and interpretation may give guidance sometimes.
They are both pronounced the same, Clair and Claire. Please tell me if you know differently.
Well, I was given the audio exercise, and I wrote c'est claire. Duo says c'est claire is wrong. I just wanted to know if it was a mistake on my part or duo's.
Ah, I understand. The French (and all Romanic) language always defaults to Masculine when the gender is either unknown or mixed. So we can say She is clear=Elle est clairE and He is clear=Il est clair. But this sentence is unspecified so we must default to masculine because we don't and can't know grammatically what gender Ce\this/that/it actually is This is why Duo marked ClairE wrong, which is incorrect here. Does this help?
Kind of. But I don't see why in a audio exercise claire should not be accepted. Okay, there is no context. But, it is not grammatically incorrect.
I believe the point is that "c'est claire" would technically be grammatically incorrect because "c'est clair" is an impersonal/general expression in which the gender is unspecified. And according to French grammar, when tbe gender is unspecified, you default ro masculine.
The context in this case is supposedly your knowledge of the language ;)
Could you use this sentence to say that an order from a boss or a superior is understood? Example: Yes sir, I understand. or Yes sir, that is clear.
heh. it is funny when the list of words to pick from on mobile has both [that] and [That] - have you guys considered maybe removing case from list of words? For one thing it is kind of a huge clue
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Duo assumes that 'ce' is masculine. 'Claire' to describe a feminine object. 'Clair' to describe a masculine object.
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How do I know if this statement is feminine or masculine as c'est could mean he or she is :/
Why "that" instead of "this"? I wrote "This is clear" and it is not accepted
