"Sa nièce est blonde."
Translation:His niece is blond.
22 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
Isn't the word "blond/blonde" on of those which should vary with gender in English too?
There is no actual rule. In English blonde is more common for women but it wouldn't be wrong to use it for a man. I think the doubt arises because French has always been studied in England in the past and most lexicographers were probably influenced by their knowledge of French in treating this French loanword.
2021
Yes, the correct English is "His niece is blonde", whereas his nephew would be "blond". However, as this was apparently pointed out five years ago and has not been amended, I doubt that anyone takes responsibility for updating such Duolingo errors. I would have reported blond/blonde, using the 'Report' rather than 'Discuss' button, but there was no tick-box option for indicating that the English translation is wrong. Another Duolingo disappointment.
I know I should understand this by now, but how do you tell if it's "his niece" or "her niece"...?
Context. The Duo sentence by itself doesn't allow you to know if it is "his" or "her" niece. Both "his niece" and "her niece" translate to "sa nièce". The word "nièce" is feminine, so regardless of actual gender of the person, it is "sa" and not "son".
Does that help?
I agree therefore the translation hts niece is blonde also correct but is shown as wrong
it can even be "its niece". The gender of the 'niece' is what defines whether you use sa/son before it.
In English, a female person with fair hair is blonde. A male is blond.
They really need to work on sound. Cannot understand, no matter how high the volume is.
- 112
I don't know what niece or cousin mean, because I'm not native in English nor in French. Duo should have an integrated dictionary.
Hm, I am native in Portuguese too! You should learn the "family nouns" in English soon, because they are very similar to the french ones. For instance: uncle -> oncle, aunt -> tante, parents -> parents, cousin -> cousin / cousine, fiancée -> fiancée, marriage -> mariage, couple -> couple. The writing is very similar, but the pronunciation is quite different.
- 112
Brazilian Portuguese. I use mostly Duolingo mobile, so I think these improvements would be awesome: an integrated dictionary & access to "Tips and Notes" section (today this is desktop only)
Is there a way to determine if the accent on an "e" in a word is Grave or Acute?
FYI: On 2018-04-25 I reported "His niece has blonde hair".
Two sentences prior, I had received: «Votre fils est brun» = "Your son has brown hair". If there, why not here. And "blonde" is a perfectly acceptable, if alternate spelling.