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- Topic: French >
- "I like sugar."
"I like sugar."
Translation:J'aime le sucre.
74 Comments
2195
"j'aime du sucre" is correct grammatically, but it's not the correct way.
The rule is to use definite article "le, la, les, l'" with the verbs of passion/emotion like "like, love, hate, dislike, disgust...etc"
In this case "aime" falls in that category.
2195
@SaraHinata: "THANK YOU! I was so confused! I thought that when it..."
I'm so happy that I've been of help to you.
Here's a lingot to keep you motivated.
2195
@venetoblu: "Thanks for this explanation...."
Yup, that's exactly what I meant. I have corrected the mistake.
Cheers!
2195
@shreyafrench1: "Ohh now i get it i was "du" a zillion times...."
Glad to be helpful... thanks for the lingot.
2195
It's wrong though.
The rule in French is to use the "le, la, les" after using the verb like/love "aimer"
I learned this in discussions, so hope it helps.
2195
"adore" means love or adore in english; which is emphasising the love!
"aime" means like or love
With words expressing your like or dislike of something, you do not use "de la, du (de+le), de l', des" - but simply "le, la, l', les". It's a French thing! The le in this instance does not mean 'the' - but is simply the article that goes along with French nouns. We don't have this in English - where the article needs to be attached to the noun (well not often, anyways).
With other verbs, you would use de la, du (de+le), de l', des - to mean either 'some' of that thing, or simply you are doing, e.g. eating (of) that thing.
Je mange du fromage = I eat cheese = I am eating cheese = I am eating some cheese (Literally - in English, I eat of the cheese but you cannot always translate literally from one language to another.)
Je mange le fromage = I eat THE cheese = I am eating THE cheese.
However….
J'aime le fromage = I like cheese
J'adore le fromage = I loooove cheese! (but for me ONLY if it is fromage de chèvre! 'o) )
As someone above said - No naked nouns! in French! They must have an article attached to them (at the front), i.e. le, la, l', les
So for example, "Cheese is fabulous" (meaning generally you think cheese is fabulous, not a specific cheese) - this would be in French "Le fromage est fabuleux!" and not just "Fromage est fabuleux" which would be incorrect.
If you were talking about a specific cheese, you could then say, "Ce fromage est fabuleux!" (This cheese is fabulous)
I hope that makes sense!
dearest duolingo - there seems to be much confusion regarding the use of "du" and "le" with regards to the sentence "j'aime le sucre." may i suggest posting an explanation of WHY the above sentence is correct/incorrect instead of merely a "check" or "x", or other users postulating the seemingly nebulous rules of the french language. are there no moderators?!
With words expressing your like or dislike of something, you do not use "de la, du (de+le), de l', des" - but simply "le, la, l', les". It's a French thing! The le in this instance does not mean 'the' - but is simply the article that goes along with French nouns. We don't have this in English - where the article needs to be attached to the noun (well not often, anyways).
With other verbs, you would use de la, du (de+le), de l', des - to mean either 'some' of that thing, or simply you are doing, e.g. eating (of) that thing.
Je mange du fromage = I eat cheese = I am eating cheese = I am eating some cheese (Literally - in English, I eat of the cheese but you cannot always translate literally from one language to another.)
Je mange le fromage = I eat THE cheese = I am eating THE cheese.
However….
J'aime le fromage = I like cheese
J'adore le fromage = I loooove cheese! (but for me ONLY if it is fromage de chèvre! 'o) )
As someone above said - No naked nouns! in French! They must have an article attached to them (at the front), i.e. le, la, l', les
So for example, "Cheese is fabulous" (meaning generally you think cheese is fabulous, not a specific cheese) - this would be in French "Le fromage est fabuleux!" and not just "Fromage est fabuleux" which would be incorrect.
If you were talking about a specific cheese, you could then say, "Ce fromage est fabuleux!" (This cheese is fabulous)
I hope that makes sense!
In this instance it would more correctly mean "I LOOOVE sugar!" - which you might! So I would think either could be correct. It would just be really emphasising the degree to which you like it. You could say it - but it would not simply mean, "I like sugar".
Aimer meaning like OR love is more specifically for people than objects/foods - so that you would be more likely to say J'adore if you REAAALLLLY love a food, or clothing item, for example. That's my understanding, anyways.
2195
verbs involving emotions, generally, take the definitive article "le, la, les, l'" rather than the partitive articles "du, de la, des"
With words expressing your like or dislike of something, you do not use "de la, du (de+le), de l', des" - but simply "le, la, l', les". It's a French thing! The le in this instance does not mean 'the' - but is simply the article that goes along with French nouns. We don't have this in English - where the noun needs to be attached to the article. (Well not that often.)
With other verbs, you would use de la, du (de+le), de l', des - to mean either 'some' of that thing, or simply you are doing, e.g. eating (of) that thing.
Je mange du fromage = I eat cheese = I am eating cheese - I am eating some cheese
J'aime le fromage = I like cheese
J'adore le fromage = I loooove cheese! (but for me ONLY if it is fromage de chèvre! 'o) )
As someone above said - No naked nouns! in French! They must have an article attached to them (at the front), i.e. le, la, l', les
So for example, "Cheese is fabulous" (meaning generally you think cheese is fabulous, not a specific cheese) - this would be in French "Le fromage est fabuleux!" and not just "Fromage est fabuleux" which would be incorrect.
If you were talking about a specific cheese, you could then say, "Ce fromage est fabuleux!" (This cheese is fabulous)
I hope that makes sense!
2195
there's no such thing as "de le".
du is contraction of 'de + le'
and we do have the definitive article (le, la, les, l') in English, but we don't always mention it; as it indicates generalities in the French sentence
With words expressing your like or dislike of something, you do not use "de la, du (de+le), de l', des" - but simply "le, la, l', les". It's a French thing! The le in this instance does not mean 'the' - but is simply the article that goes along with French nouns. We don't have this in English - where the article needs to be attached to the noun (well not often, anyways).
With other verbs, you would use de la, du (de+le), de l', des - to mean either 'some' of that thing, or simply you are doing, e.g. eating (of) that thing.
Je mange du fromage = I eat cheese = I am eating cheese = I am eating some cheese (Literally - in English, I eat of the cheese but you cannot always translate literally from one language to another.)
Je mange le fromage = I eat THE cheese = I am eating THE cheese.
However….
J'aime le fromage = I like cheese
J'adore le fromage = I loooove cheese! (but for me ONLY if it is fromage de chèvre! 'o) )
As someone above said - No naked nouns! in French! They must have an article attached to them (at the front), i.e. le, la, l', les
So for example, "Cheese is fabulous" (meaning generally you think cheese is fabulous, not a specific cheese) - this would be in French "Le fromage est fabuleux!" and not just "Fromage est fabuleux" which would be incorrect.
If you were talking about a specific cheese, you could then say, "Ce fromage est fabuleux!" (This cheese is fabulous)
I hope that makes sense!
With words expressing your like or dislike of something, you do not use "de la, du (de+le), de l', des" - but simply "le, la, l', les". It's a French thing! The le in this instance does not mean 'the' - but is simply the article that goes along with French nouns. We don't have this in English - where the article needs to be attached to the noun (well not often, anyways).
With other verbs, you would use de la, du (de+le), de l', des - to mean either 'some' of that thing, or simply you are doing, e.g. eating (of) that thing.
Je mange du fromage = I eat cheese = I am eating cheese = I am eating some cheese (Literally - in English, I eat of the cheese but you cannot always translate literally from one language to another.)
Je mange le fromage = I eat THE cheese = I am eating THE cheese.
However….
J'aime le fromage = I like cheese
J'adore le fromage = I loooove cheese! (but for me ONLY if it is fromage de chèvre! 'o) )
As someone above said - No naked nouns! in French! They must have an article attached to them (at the front), i.e. le, la, l', les
So for example, "Cheese is fabulous" (meaning generally you think cheese is fabulous, not a specific cheese) - this would be in French "Le fromage est fabuleux!" and not just "Fromage est fabuleux" which would be incorrect.
If you were talking about a specific cheese, you could then say, "Ce fromage est fabuleux!" (This cheese is fabulous)
I hope that makes sense!
2195
when a word ends with a vowel and the next word starts with a vowel or an unpronounced H, the last letter 'vowel' of the first letter is removed and replaced with an apostrophe '
this is the case here,
je; ends with a vowel
aime; starts with a vowel
so they become j'aime
together.
of course, there are some exceptions for this rule, but this is how it's done most of the time ;)
2195
'aime' means like or love in English;
but 'adore' means to love or to adore, which emphasises on love emotion
2195
you can say both "j'aime" and "j'adore" to people
but saying "j'adore" to choclate, cold weather or leather jackets, doesn't seem right, unless you really really love them, which doesn't make sense tbh.
With words expressing your like or dislike of something, you do not use "de la, du (de+le), de l', des" - but simply "le, la, l', les". It's a French thing! The le in this instance does not mean 'the' - but is simply the article that goes along with French nouns. We don't have this in English - where the article needs to be attached to the noun (well not often, anyways).
With other verbs, you would use de la, du (de+le), de l', des - to mean either 'some' of that thing, or simply you are doing, e.g. eating (of) that thing.
Je mange du fromage = I eat cheese = I am eating cheese = I am eating some cheese (Literally - in English, I eat of the cheese but you cannot always translate literally from one language to another.)
Je mange le fromage = I eat THE cheese = I am eating THE cheese.
However….
J'aime le fromage = I like cheese
J'adore le fromage = I loooove cheese! (but for me ONLY if it is fromage de chèvre! 'o) )
As someone above said - No naked nouns! in French! They must have an article attached to them (at the front), i.e. le, la, l', les
So for example, "Cheese is fabulous" (meaning generally you think cheese is fabulous, not a specific cheese) - this would be in French "Le fromage est fabuleux!" and not just "Fromage est fabuleux" which would be incorrect.
If you were talking about a specific cheese, you could then say, "Ce fromage est fabuleux!" (This cheese is fabulous)
I hope that makes sense!
I don't think anyone else posted this, but French is often backwards from English; or they just rearrange the words. So why can't you say "Du sucre, je l'aime" I thought that would mean "Sugar, I like it." And previously there was a sentence structured like this, so I figured it was common in French.