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- "Elle l'aime."
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Why is this "she loves him" and not "she loves her". How do you tell the difference?
It can be "she loves him", "she loves her".
If l' is a thing "elle l'aime" will translate to "she likes it" or "it likes it".
I thought when we say him/her we use "lui" How do we know when to use "lui" or "l'/le/la"?
"l', le, la, les" are direct object forms of il, elle, ils, elles:
- je l'aime (him or her), je les aime (them).
"lui" is the indirect object form of il or elle, with a verb constructed with preposition "à":
- je lui donne un gâteau (donner à / give to him or her); je leur donne un gâteau (to them)
If "it" is a thing: Elle adore ça.
If 'it" is her beloved pet: Elle l'aime
Sadly, there is no chocolate in this sentence. Again, depending on what or who "l'" represents, you have to change the verb.
If, Elle l'aime works for her beloved pet - then 'She loves it' should work!
How do you tell if "l" is a thing or person since the whole context is not shown
If le/la is a thing, then aime would mean like, not love. So, 'She likes it' is acceptable.
Also, whoever downvoted Sitesurf needs to get a life. She is right. The question giver should have read the thread.
Are you saying that adding the "beaucoup" makes it sound more like she loves her as a friend?
What if I wanna say I love my partner very much, then? I don't get it :(
I heard this in the French Your Way podcast, actually. "Aimer" is itself a superlative, and adding "beaucoup" to it means loving less than aimer.
Accidental heterosexism? What the heck? No, it's just a weird phrase and it doesn't indicate who they are talking to, that's all.
"It" (animal or thing) is correct if the verb is "like".
If the verb is "love", the pronoun must be "him" or "her" (human beings)
Why is it translated to "She loves him" or "She likes it" & "She loves it" is wrong? I had a similar error previously with "Je t'aime". When I translated the second sentence to "I like you", it counted it as wrong and considered "I love you" as correct.
"Elle l'aime":
l' can represent a human being, a pet, an object, a concept... anything.
but verb "aimer" does not translate to "love" or "like" randomly:
- aimer + human being/animal = to love, to be in love with
- aimer bien or aimer beaucoup + human being/animal = to like, to enjoy
-
aimer (bien/beaucoup) + inanimate object = to like, to enjoy
-
to love + human being/pet = aimer
- to love + inanimate object = adorer
That is why you can translate "elle l'aime" to:
- she likes it (inanimate object)
- she loves it (animal)
- she loves him (human)
- she loves her (human)
if i write "like" how is it different from "love"? doesn't aime mean both?
If the object (l') is a thing:
- elle l'aime = she likes it
- she loves it = elle l'adore.
In the standard speed recording, how is this any different than "Elle aime"? That may not be a grammatically complete sentence, but I'm used to Duo throwing bizarre fragments at me by now.
to make " L' " heard, you should take a mini break between "elle" and "l'aime"
The point was not to ask how to articulate the difference myself. The point was that I don't think there is such a "mini break" in the full-speed recording.
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A question came up to me just now and I'm wondering: Can "elle l'aime" and "elle aime ça" be interchangeable and consequently mean the same, I mean, referring to food/object/animal (because it wouldn't look fine using "ça" for a person)? For example:
- Est-ce que vous aimez le café?
-
Oui, je l'aime.
-
Est-ce que vous aimez le café?
- Oui, j'aime ça.
Thanks in advance.
Yes, this is correct. I would not use it for animals though.
- Est-ce que vous aimez les oiseaux ?
- Oui, je les aime.
When do I use love vs like.? First, I used love and it was marked wrong. The I use like and it was also marked wrong. ?????
People have been complaining and reporting literally for years about the fact that in the absence of context, that l' can mean him, her or it. Isn't this language monitored by DL developers anymore? Or am I just being grincheuse ce matin?
The course as you know it has been written and maintained by volunteers for years. In the absence of context l' can refer to a human being, animal or thing.
If you have learned the rules for translation of "like/love" to "aimer/aimer bien/adorer", you must remember that the nature of l' will change the verb or its meaning.
"Elle l'aime", therefore, can translate to:
- She loves him
- She loves her
- She likes it
And also:
- It loves him
- It loves her
- It likes it
Thanks for responding!
You seem to be saying that when there is an absence of any guiding context, "She likes(loves) it" is an acceptable translation of "Elle l'aime." That response, however, is currently rejected and apparently has been rejected for a long time. Therein lies the rub.
ps: It just occurred to me that maybe others have complained bitterly but I'm the first person to actually report it. (ツ)
What I listed above did not mention "she loves it", which matches "elle l'adore", not "elle l'aime (bien)" (= she likes it).
Hey Sitesurf, thanks for all your help in all of these.
Believe it or not, I'm still confused on this one. Above in this chain you explain why "elle l'aime" should be "she loves him/her" and not "she loves it," but then in another chain in this same post you explained to me that "If 'it" is her beloved pet: Elle l'aime" which suggests that "She loves it" is an acceptable translation of "Elle l'aime," though it was marked wrong for me (at least yesterday it was).
I suspect that the real answer is that pronouns are tricky, and nuance and context matters.
Actually, I can understand your confusion because there is a gray zone when it comes to pets. Some pet owners consider their animals as family members and behave accordingly. This is why we may classify "aimer + pet" in the same category as "aimer + human being" (= to love).
Besides, I suspect that a pet owner would refer to his/her beloved animal with "he/she" which would reinforce this interpretation.
I would suggest you consider any "it" as a thing when it comes to translating "like" (aimer, aimer bien) or "love" (adorer).
Your conclusion is therefore perfectly relevant.
I cannot move from this question -_- i can't pronouce "elle l'aime", how do you say it?!
The speech sample in incorrect. It doesn't pronounce the l sound before aime. Just say 'elle aime' and you should pass.
why "aime" rather than "adore" which is what i thought was the translation for love rather than like ?
The original sentence has "aime" and not "adore", but if the sentence had "elle l'adore", the translations could be "she loves/adores it/him/her".
With "elle l'aime", the translation to "like" or "love" depends on the nature of the object:
Elle l'aime =
- she loves him
- she loves her
- she likes it
When there is a word for LOVE in French WHY is "aime" occasionally translated as "LOVE" as well. Why can't the literal translation of LIKE be used whenever "aime" is used?
How does one know when "aime" means "love" and NOT "like"? This does not make sense to me. If it is MEANT to be translated as "loves him", why is it not "l'adore". This seems inconsistent and French is difficult enough without switching translations arbitrarily! :)
There are conventions to translate "aimer, aimer bien, adorer" to and from English: https://www.duolingo.com/comment/736970
