"It is beautiful to love!"
Translation:C'est beau d'aimer !
85 Comments
275
Are there any specific reasons why "C'est beau aimer" does not work? It seems like that would be the literal way of saying "It is beautiful to love". I'm just wondering if there is a rule that I'm unaware which can be applied to other cases.
The phrase "C'est beau d'aimer" is an example of an impersonal expression. "C'" (or "it" in English) is a "dummy" subject as it does not refer to a real noun like it would in the following: "J'ai une pomme. C'est rouge." In the latter, "C'" refers to "pomme," but the former doesn't appear to refer to anything in particular. This type of impersonal expression is constructed using il est/c'est + adjective + preposition + intransitive infinitive. While the preposition "d'" may seem redundant, this construction requires it.
It sounds awkward without the 'de', which corresponds exactly to the english "to" above. Even if you reverse the order (d'aimer, c'est beau), "d/de" has to be in there.
Sorry, but I'm not following the logic here, surely 'aimer' means 'to love' making the 'de' redundant?
But "it sounds awkward" doesn't seem to be a grammatically substantiated explanation - and could you clarify how the "de" corresponds to the english "to" in this case? because in my view "aimer" corresponds to the english "to love" (as Simon_Bell has pointed out above) ...
lolol, i live in france, and believe me, "we change the grammar rule because it sounds awkward" is a FREQUENT & legitimate explanation for exceptions to general rules. it used to make me crazy, now i just sigh and have a glass of wine.
Okay, but does that mean that it is only an euphonic consonant, and that it doesn't have any grammatical function? (like the "l'" that is sometimes added to "on", making it "l'on" purely for euphonic reasons).
from what i've seen (and i'm only at the DELF B1 in-progress level) it is generally using masculine articles with words that start with vowels. example: apartment is a masculine word, but the french say "un bel apartment" not "un beau apartment". belle is feminine, normally you use beau for the masculine. "bel" is a masculinized form of "belle". Always you say "mon ami" even if your friend is a woman, that kind of thing. also with certain nous verb conjugations they change the spelling because they dont like a hard "g" sound and if the root ends with a "g" they will add and "e" so it's a soft "ge" sound ("nous mangeons") but the truth is there isn't much logic or consistency with the exceptions, when you ask why they say it sounds better in certain cases or "that's just the way it is done" which to them means ends the discussion. i have a masters in english literature and truly struggle with understanding french even though i live here and am lucky enough to have many kind french people helping me. it's a tough oral language to be able to hear when spoken normally. i'm hoping if i can really grasp the grammer and integrate it into my thinking i'll be able to better "hear" the words. a huge part of my battle is learning to discard my need for logic and consistency. bon courage!
I wonder if it has something to do with the translation of say 'to love' in this infinitive form maybe only being translated in this way (with the 'to') after another verb? Perhaps after an adjective/adverb such as 'beautiful' in this sentence, the de is still grammatically required? I am not a native French speaker, but to me it sounds right to add the de, but my hunch is that this also relates to a grammatical rule.
Surprised that this complicated sentence construction that I'd never seen came right after the simple 'Salut!' in my practise...
I suppose it's one of those things in French that the reason for it is "because it sounds better".
I think it's like that rule (sorry, I can't quite remember the name) that uses "t" to form a better liason between vowels. Without the "d" in this instance you would have two vowels, "u" and "a" beside one another and it would sound awkward.
"C'est" is followed by any determiner - for instance, an article or a possessive adjective. (C'est un homme). The personal pronoun "il" is used with "être" when they're followed by an adjective and/or adverb - e.g "Il est fort", "Est-elle forte?"
When it comes to to people, "aimer bien" means "to like," "aimer" means "to love", and adorer means "to adore".
"Adorer" can mean "to love" as well. It's just important to remember it suggests very strong love. I think that's why Duolingo is discouraging us from using it here because they want us to default to "aimer" in order to avoid awkward situations.
I have the same question. My best guess is that "adorer" requires an object, but it would be great if a French speaker would explain this.
someone asked but there was no answer that i saw: is it possible to also say "C'est belle d'aimer" ?
'C'est' is always considered masculine. If you were referring to a specific feminine subject, you would use 'elle est'
- 1315
Apparently not. Love is considered masculine when it is a noun. Think "Cupid".
I believe that as a rule of thumb, one usually uses the masculine with verbs. (at least that's how it works in Spanish) Pheeewwww!! At least we don't have to memorize genders of verbs as well...
"C'est" is followed by any determiner - for instance, an article or a possessive adjective. (C'est un homme). The personal pronoun "il" is used with "être" when they're followed by an adjective and/or adverb - e.g "Il est fort", "Est-elle forte?"
I also would like an answer to this. I thought the rule was to use aimer only when talking about love between people, and adorer otherwise!
I tried Aimer est beau and was wrong. Latin allows that construction, so I hoped it would pass in French too. Why is it wrong?
It would pass in other romance languages ("amare è bello", "amar é bom/bonito" etc., correct me if I'm wrong), but french has been much more influenced by germanic languages through history, maybe that's the reason. Germanic languages are very fond of dummy subjects, such as "it"/"es"/"det" etc. to fill in the subject position, while romance languages very often don't need it. English: It rains German: Es regnet Italian: Piove Portuguese: Chove but french: il pleut.
Why is it de and not à here? In the notes it says that à is used for constructions without an object and de is used for constructions with an object. My understanding is that this sentence doesn't have an object because it doesn't specify what they're loving, so I said "C'est beau à aimer" but was marked wrong.
This is an impersonal expression where "it" does not refer to a specific thing, as you said. It is a general statement like stating the weather. If "c'" had been referring to a real subject then the impersonal expression would use "à" instead of "de." "J'aime mon livre. C'est facile à lire." / "I love my book. It's easy to read." vs. "C'est facile de lire." / "It's easy to read." The latter is a general statement about reading while the former refers only to the aforementioned book.
Thank you. That was a great explanation!
That's what I put, and they counted it wrong. I think that it should be correct, as long as that comma is in there.
Duolingo reported 'C'est joli d'aimer' as incorrect. Any reason why joli doesn't sound good in that sentence?
- 295
To my understanding, joli means 'pretty, nice, lovely' more than beautiful (which would translate to belle/beaux). Joli is not quite as strong of a word.
I'm noticing that I consistently leave out "de" in places such as this. What's the rule? Also, I thought "c'est' was used when there was an article following and "il est" when there is no article. Do I have this wrong in my head? Merci.
The de is required in impersonal expressions like "c'est difficile de parler" or "il est amusant de patiner." The structure for phrases with a "dummy" subject (where "it" or "c'" doesn't refer to a specific thing) follow this structure: c'est + adjective + preposition (de) + infinitive. Typically "c'est" is considered more informal and is more common in spoken French, while "il est" is more commonly written.
english and french prepositions usually do not translate directly, you simply have to learn how they use each one in each context. as an expat in france my biggest challenges are prepositions, the flexibility of french pronouns and verb conjugation.
"C'est beau d'amour" translates to "It's a beautiful love" , as oppose to "It's beautiful to love" .
Ok, what do you think about using merveilleux instead of beau? I got marked wrong for saying "C'est merveilleux d'amour".
French doesn't like two vowel sounds next to each other, otherwise they'd be contracted: Ce est = C'est. Also try to remember, French sometimes bends rules of grammar to avoid awkward sounding sentences.
why not "c'est joli a aimer"... how do we know when to use de vs a before infinitives?
I was a bit uncomfortable using words for physical beauty for "it is beautiful" here, and instead tried one of the suggested words, merveilleux. I was marked wrong. Are "beau" and "belle" supposed to refer in general to beauty rather than just to physical beauty?
how come it is not, "C'est beau d'adorer!." "Aimer" is to like, and "adorer" is to love... I am confused?
why is it not c'est beau a dimer? since a is to? or is it just like that in french
- 1668
when you have an impersonal expression of the form il est + adjective + preposition + infinitive and the subject is a dummy subject then the adjective must be masculine and the preposition must be de
examples
Il est important d'étudier. - It is important to study (the word it acts as a dummy subject)
il est bon d'exercer - it is good to exercise (the word it acts as a dummy subject)
Il est difficile de manger parce que j'ai mal à la gorge - it is difficult to eat because I have a sore throat (the word it acts as a dummy subject - in other words the act of eating is difficult because I have a sore throat))
Note if the subject is a real subject then you need to use the preposition à
example
il est difficile à manger - it (the lobster you have been served) is difficult to eat
- 1668
If il wasn't acting as a dummy subject, then the sentence: Il est beau d'aimer would not make sense. For example, suppose il represents a man called Jacques, then the sentence would imply: Jacques is beautiful to love. which doesn't make sense.
Consider another example: il neige - it is snowing. Here il is acting as a dummy subject. The word it is not referring to a thing, no object is snowing. In contrast in the sentence - It is going very fast - the pronoun it could be referring to a car, horse. etc.
Why is Duolingo shouting at me. What did i do wrong it is making me feel bad :(
according to duolingo's strange logic (which my French teacher does not agree with), "aimer" means to love when used for people, but if you love a thing you use "adorer." I agree that either should be accepted, and I am sure my teacher does as well. But duo is strange.
"Amour" is a noun, not a verb. You could say "l'amour est beau" or "c'est beau, l'amour" (meaning "love is beautiful") but that wouldn't be a proper translation of the sentence "it's beautiful to love".
- 455
Amour is "love" as in the overall emotion, you would have to conjugate "amour" into a verb, in this case, "aimer" to say that you like or love something.
In this example "aimer" is to love even though the dictionary hints use "adore". In other examples "aimer" is to like, and in one example "aime bien" is to like with a detailed explanation that "aimer" without "bien" is to love. Which is it?
