36 Comments
Why can't the translation be "she talks about roses?". When you hover over the "des" the explanation gives an example "Elle a des robes translates into She has dresses or She has some dresses."... it never says "she has THE dresses".
Why is it different in this situation? Why is the correct answer "she talks about THE roses"?
The translation is correct here, it is not a bug. I discussed it with my french colleague.
She speaks about the roses: Elle parle des roses = Elle parle (de + les) roses
She speaks about roses: Elle parle de roses.
Roses are countable, so basically you just drop "les" and treat them like uncountable if you want to be indirect. De and all it's forms are kind of difficult to grasp, because it has a lot of exceptions, this is one of them.
It also depends on the verb - in this example, parle is intransitive (to speak doesn't require any object), so the above applies. In a sentence
You are eating SOME vegetables: Vous mangez des légumes.
You are eating THE vegetables: Vous mangez les légumes.
Manger is transitive - it requires some object after it. The same thing is with "avoir" (to have), as it is transitive as well.
Hope it helps :)
1- The hover hints indicate that "parle des" together translates into "talk about". Not "parle de", but "parle des". That gives: "She talks about roses".
2- Earlier on in this very lesson there was a similar sentence: "Vouz parlez des filles" and there the provided correct answer was "You talk about girls." Pick your poison; 'cuz one of them's got to go. Can't have it both ways. (Unless both ways are accepted for both questions.)
Oui! I noticed the same sentence "Vous parlez des filles" = "You talk about girls".
I posted the same thing to another thread earlier.
And, the hover hints do indicate that 'parle des' = 'talk(s) about'.
Salut kovike
I knew it had something to do with the verb, as well. Merci. :-)
No it doesnt help- doesnt explain why roses are countable so there's this exception
I wrote "she talks about roses" and it was accepted as a correct answer. It also said that another correct solution is "she talks about the roses".
de + les = des de + des = des Both translations are correct. French simply doesn't distinguish here.
Have you tried that version with 'the'? Because the contention generally in this discussion seems to center around the article - I do rather like your poetic take so would be curious if it would be accepted with the definite article included.
Hi shawnabcat. Watch this.. "Elles parle des roses"= She speaks of roses. "Elle parle de les roses" = She talks about (the) roses. Last but not least... "Elle parle de la rose" = She speaks of PINK. Courtesy Google translate vs Duo. Now then, yer pays yer munny an' yer takes yer choice innit?
"Des" translates to "some of the", which can either be shortened to "some" or "of the" depending on the context. Duolingo will accept "She speaks of the roses" as a correct translation. "She speaks of roses" would be "Elle parle de roses"
should also allow "She speaks of roses" it's a little poetic but it is correct
I agree with you that it should be 'she talks about roses', since 'des' is an indefinite article, the zero article should be accepted in English. I have just reported it as a problem. Hopefully, it will be fixed.
Hmm, this still hasn't been fixed - perhaps it's correct then? Any French experts willing to clarify?
"Des" translates to "some of the", which can either be shortened to "some" or "of the" depending on the context. "She talks of roses" would be "Elle parle de roses"
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I think the translation may actually be right. "Des" can also be a contraction of "de" and "les." I'm not sure, but I think "she talks about roses" may be "Elle parle de roses."
At least explain why omitting "the" is considered an error. That should be useful. I can't realize that yet nevertheless.
If we see this sentence as a generalization one, I mean any rose, not a specific one; it's weird to add a definitive article, isn’t it? That is why I also think the translation “she talks about roses” should be considered as well.
"des" clarify the sentence to as the roses or of roses. To talk about roses, in general, it would have been "Elle parle de roses." = She talks about roses. The example says "des" which is being specific to "the roses". "Elle parle des roses" She talks about the roses/She talks of roses The use of de des changes the meaning of the sentence.
I would have translated this sentence as "She speaks of roses." As I am no native speaker, I'd be interested why this isn't a possible translation.
I'm more confused than ever now. Des = some. Or at least it did. Now it means "the" as well? WTH? I've read through everyone's comments on here and there seems to be no one accepted answer, so I don't understand at all. Des roses should be some roses, or "Je parle des roses" should be "I speak of roses". It really makes no sense.
This is one almighty tricky lesson opening up here Mythdefied. Don't know if this just confuses you all the more...... Des does = Some as an Article. As a Contraction it usually means "Of THE, or About THE"=DE+LES. So, in your example "Je parles des roses" would be weird/wrong if it were translated to "I speak SOME roses" no? So we can say "I speak OF THE roses" or "I speak ABOUT THE roses" don't you think? Either will work. Now; "J'ai DES roses" can be "I have SOME roses" or "I have roses" and of course context will play a big part in the one you choose. If we wished to be quite certain that we only have SOME roses we could move the sentence to include "Certaines", but DES will do usually for both contexts. Please don't be frustrated if this post doesn't finally clear it up. This is a tricky one even for native French speakers. I, myself only "grasp" it; I do not fully "Understand" it. By the way, I totally love your name; it either has a noticeable lisp or you don't "do" Myths.! Love it.
Impossible to hear many of the voiced elements in duolingo as in this example. It sounded like Elle a des roses.
the hint for roses lists pink but then marks pink as wrong. what the heck
I got it wrong for saying "some roses" and it corrected me by saying "THE roses". This isnt fair.
We are being taught idioms as well as "perfect" grammar. In this sentence "Des"="De+Les"="Of The"="About The". Another one to remember.
