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- "C'est votre jolie robe noire…
125 Comments
200
In French, yes. But in English adjectives usually precede the noun except in specific circumstances.
This might help.
Leaving a comment just for the admins to see this question because now I'm confused. It took me a while to understand this exercise and I was trying to reply to some questions, but when I tried to translate this I got stuck at the first question. :/ I wouldn't know how to translate "yours", ta at the end of the sentence sounds wrong.
196
How does one know this is a question? There is no inflection. There is no reversal. Could it be a simple statement?
1074
Because you wouldn't say "It is your pretty black dress?" instead you would switch the it and is around to make it fit into the question sentence.
1362
If you are referring to the use of votre as being an indicator of plurality then you are forgetting the role of votre as being the formal version of your singular.
Sometimes ton for your when it is singular, sometimes votre for your when it is singular. It just depends on whether you want to be formal or not.
If you are wondering how can you tell whether the single or plural use is intended, just look at the rest of the sentence.
In this case everything else in the sentence is singular therefore votre must be as well.
1362
jjjen
I think Duo should inject more examples where the formal construction is required just to remind everybody that it is actually fairly common in French. Eg: when speaking to a clerk in a store it is impolite to use the informal tu rather than the formal vous. Same for ton/ votre. Unless, of course, you already know him.
If there are situations in English where you wouldn't be too familiar and casual then when speaking French you would use formal address.
I once saw a young, recently elected member of a legislature who upon meeting a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court for the first time, addressed him as buddy. This was considered a major indiscretion by everyone within earshot. Sprinkling tu/ ton throughout the conversation would have been the same thing. When in doubt use vous/ votre. Better to be regarded as a bit stuffy than rude or thoughtless.
1362
Good point.
The problem is that the choice of votre/singular vs. vos/ plural is determined by the noun/object not the noun/subject.
Vous avez votre animal = You have your animal. (where you is a group of people) Votre is used because it is singular and therefore matches animal singular even though it actually refers to something plural (vous). To determine if it is, in fact, something plural you have to look at the rest of the sentence. But you always render it based on the noun it is attached to. If the noun it is attached is singular then it is votre, if the noun is plural, then vos is used.
Similarly, Tu as vos animaux = you have your animals. (where tu is obviously a single person) Vos is used because animaux is plural even though the you that your refers to is singular. Again, if Vous avez vos animaux is the sentence it is still vos even if the vous is intended to be singular formal.
1362
Figurative/ subjective adjectives go in front of the noun. Literal/ objective adjectives go after the noun.
EG: bon homme/ good man If you are referring to his conversational skills or dancing ability that is subjective/ figurative and goes before the noun.
Bon homme/ good man If you are referring to a nobel peace prize winner then that is objective/ literal and goes after the noun.
In the two previous examples it is You that decides what You mean by placing the adjective. When you say old friend do you mean you have known him of a long time (subjective/ figurative goes in front) or he is a very old person (objective/ literal goes after). Only You know what You mean.
To help with placing adjectives there is a convention called B.A.G.S. which calls for conforming adjectives to be placed in front.
Beauty
Age
Goodness (or badness)
Size (except for grand with people)
As you can see most adjectives fitting any of these areas are likely to be subjective/ figurative and go in front.
But since adjectives are subjective by definition there is plenty of variation. Since Duo wants to make sure that you understand the importance of adjective placement they may take hearts on what seems an arbitrary basis but it hasn't happened to me enough to bother me. They will mark you wrong for not placing mauvais in front and later on give you an example where they allow mauvais to be placed on either side. But they won't take your hearts if you stick with B.A.G.S.
I have seen several responses referring to B.A.G.S. However, Duo recommended BANGS in a previous lesson (I forget which). The explanation I copied and pasted is: Placement of adjectives - Most adjectives come after the noun. The exception is: B-A-N-G-S = Beauty - Age - Numbers - Good/bad - Size. B.A.G.S. excludes "Numbers." Is BANGS more correct than BAGS? Just curious. Merci!
1362
I think the problem with including N is that there are a fair amount of exceptions to numbers so it might cause confusion.
Hiya ElisaEisen. My thought is that Duo has brought an "issue" upon itself with "Joli/e in the lessons using it and especially the drop-down options for it. This is, for me, definitely one which the team needs to sort/clarify and soon. Pages could be written but let me suffice it to say: Stick to Pretty for Joli/e. Beau/Bel/le for beautiful/handsome and just absolutely avoid the word "Nice" in the English language. It is banal, means everything and nothing and has no robust definition. A word for the brainless. Use this as a guide and you'll not go far wrong here. Cordial, JJ.
no sadly it does not. i got caught in that too... evidently belle means beautiful. and jolie evidently means something other than pretty too but they didn'tbother to tell us that until the answer comes up wrong. :( how are we supposed to know it can also mean lovely if they don't tell us that? i don't know about you but my name is not "Claire Voyant"
Yes and no, (as always!) With the "BANGS" guide Jolie and Petite come before the noun they describe (Jolie="B":Beauty/Ugliness and Jolie/Pretty comes under that category. Petite="S":Size and that also comes under the BANGS category but Noire doesn't, so it comes after the noun it modifies. BANGS=Before the noun B, Beauty/Ugliness. A, Age. N, Number. G, Good/Bad. S, Size. THERE ARE EXCEPTIONS!).
this company needs to address the fact that they are asking people to simultaneously be precise and vague with their answers and translations. if the word means something specific then don't use it for something else elsewhere and expect us to anticpate that use. "Jolie" or "Joli" is commonly known as PRETTY in most translations, leave it at that. As beginning French students, we wouldn't know how to translate "LOVELY"!!!
Hi Felix. Yes, bit like the BFG really. However language does this to all of us nomatter what the language. Lovely has, as usual, many translations but most likely is Charmant? (If anyone poached me or my language I'd rather likes it done what's not exact like, at least is is when it's not me who is dong the talking in the time when talking is done. (I said something there, did I? As The BFG might say.) Duo may be a "Company" behind the "facade", (would you call it that?), but here it is a community site. We certainly wouldn't use more than the one exclamation mark on a language-learning site, would we?
It's a case of context really Pooleb. Hard to think of a pretty black dress as opposed to a lovely black dress. Yes joli(e) works for both pretty and lovely and if I had programmed Duo I would have had it accept both with a tip to say that in this context, lovely is best expressed as Charnant and if I was a moderator, drawn attention to it at Duo.
580
For someone asking a question the inflection in the woman's voice leaves much to be desired. One does not have the benefit of the ? when it is spoken and we have to translate.
200
It is not wrong grammatically, but it is wrong nevertheless. Idiomatically, English always puts colour last in a string of adjectives: my big blue eyes; his great purple nose; her long, smooth beautiful, coffee-coloured arms; my very expensive, gorgeous blue dress.
12
Which word indicates the possession "your" here? Please someone explain. Thanks in advance!