"Do you drink tea?"
Translation:Tu bois du thé ?
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1508
I agree...no sense to it al all. Do you drink tea is general so should be tu bois le the. Tu veux du the..do you want some tea is specific. They should make their minds up! I agree wi a previous comment... it has become a guessing game, not a lesson, and it is BORING.
I would say Tu bois du thé? is more like "Are you drinking tea (right now)" or "Do you want to drink (some) tea right now?" butTu bois le thé makes sense if you're asking whether liking tea is a permanent preference, as in "Do you (generally, always) drink tea?
To me, that's logical. But I don't know if it's right in French. We need a native speaker to resolve this.
911
I also have a problem to understand, when should we use "DU" and when should we use "LE"? Similarly when should we use "Des" and "Les"? Because most of the time I make mistakes while using them....! Also if Duo lingo avoids repeating the same questions so many times ( if you want us to do practice of writing it then also appearing the same question twice or thrice is okay but not more than that.) then it will be better. Asking the same questions again and again is really so boring...!! I also have one more problem about audio test... When I read a complete sentence correctly, still it shows as "wrong" , so it is very disappointing...! Duo lingo does have an audio issue, so if these small small things are taken care of, Duo lingo will be more impressive and enjoyable site for all... Thanking you in advance.
1508
I'm with you. The standard of audio has gone down, everything is repeated too close together, and now they have stopped giving access to correct answers on some lessons. Sometimes I get an answer and have to guess what it means! Even though I have been going over 300 days, these couple of weeks I feel I'm learning les and less, having to resort to books for explanations. Also, the guy who translates is at best difficult to understand, and very often sounds like he can't be bothered! It's no longer enjoyable. What a shame!
French almost always uses an article, so just assume that you need one. Then you have to figure out if you need a definite ("the tea"), indefinite ("a tea," "tea," or "some tea"), or partitive ("of the tea") article. This topic is covered pretty well at About.com. I never knew what a good language resource about.com was until I started duolingo! Anyway, here's the link. Best wishes in your language studies! http://french.about.com/od/grammar/a/articles.htm
When you say you like tea in general (rather than coffee or anything else), you would say "tu aimes LE the". When you say you want a portion of tea (from a pot or a jar), you would say "tu veux DU the". Now you want to say you drink tea in general, and why do you say "tu bois DU the"?
Or "tu bois du the?" is asking because the questioner doesn't know what you are drinking now, tea or coffee?
911
The answer to your question is no. --- Please check this link -- https://grammar.collinsdictionary.com/french-easy-learning/the-partitive-article-du-de-la-de-l-and-des
795
That's correct. I know this rule 'in general/world' (= le) or 'dedicated case/personal' (=du). For sure you can speak to someone and say "du thé" but unfortunately there is no sign in the sentence. It's confusing...