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- "The boy is reading the menu."
"The boy is reading the menu."
Translation:Le garçon lit le menu.
19 Comments
No, you cannot (Duo would have listed it as a correct answer, I think)
This is the rule:
In English, to mean that an action is in progress at the time you speak, you use the continuous verbal form, ie verb BE + action verb in the gerund form (-ing).
o he is reading means he currently reads
In French, this verbal form does not exist (directly translated “il est lisant” is incorrect).
Therefore, you can translate either “il lit” or “il est en train de lire”, where the construction verb être + en train de + infinitive correctly expresses the English continuous form.
l' is an elided definite article.
what it means is that its original form is "le" or "la" but for phonetic reasons, the vowel is removed and replaced by an apostrophe.
elision is prompted by the need to avoid a vowel conflict between the article and the following word.
l' replaces "le" or "la" in front of a word starting with a vowel or a non aspirate H:
-
l'arbre (masculine)
-
l'homme (masculine)
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l'eau (feminine)
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l'huile (feminine)