"Is he your grandson?"
Translation:C'est votre petit-fils ?
45 Comments
I made the same mistake at first. If you state "He is your grandson," you have to say "C'est ton petit-fils" because you use c'est instead of il est before a possessive adjective like ton. So when you invert that to turn it into a question it becomes "Est-ce...?"
so by that logic, you wouldn't say "il est ton petit-fils" because that's wrong?
This site only says that - most of the other French experts don't. But you should use that rule for this site, though.
1446
I don't think Duo is alone in teaching this rule. At least two French experts online also teach this rule regarding the use of c'est vs. il est / elle est with a modified noun.
http://www.frenchtoday.com/blog/cest-versus-il-elle-est
The most relevant section is part A.
http://french.about.com/library/weekly/aa032500.htm
The relevant section is the table comparing the use of il est and c'est with unmodified nouns and modified nouns.
Finally, a French language instruction book also puts forward this rule:
"When a noun is used with adjectives that modify or refine the meaning of the noun, c'est is the appropriate choice. [as opposed to il est] Even a single article used with a noun is enough to modify it and make it necessary to use the c'est construction."
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You're mistaken. I checked several sites and books, and they all agree with Duolingo.
But don't feel bad--people agree that this is one of the most difficult French constructions for English speakers to learn. I know it's been kicking my butt!!
would that mean that you could not say for example "est-ce que tu es son frère?" or is that okay because it's you? how about "est-ce qu'il est ton frère?"
The rule is only with the third person singular form, so with you it's OK.
est-ce que c'est ton frère [mandatory space]? or beter Est-ce ton frère ?.
Okay,cool, thank you. I managed to live in france for 2 years without noticing this rule, so I feel enlightened. (Though i don't think i ever heard someone phrase a question like "est-ce.. ?"without the que - in everyday speech)
Just a remark "est-ce.. ?"without the "que c'". Indeed, grammatically:
Est-ce <-> Est-ce que* *c', the ce (of the first one) becomes the c' (of the second one), not the ce (of the second one).
And indeed we used it a lot and even overused when we grammatically shouldn't use it.
Mandatory space? I have never heard of that..? Can you explain where that comes from and when it's applied?? I've seen it here on Duo, but always just assumed it was a mistake!
Apart from the "ton/son... + c'est"explanation, the main verb is missing. No, it wouldn`t.
You're missing the verb. Est-ce que is a construction --- that goes all together in one block, you can't split it --- to ask questions. You can't translate it with words into English, it's just used to form questions.
Is he your grandson? <-> Est-ce votre petit-fils ? = Est-ce que c'est votre petit-fils ?.
I bolded the (real) verb+subject of the sentences.
For me the literal meaning "is it that..." works to translate "est-ce que", in the sense that it tells me how the construction works in French. You are correct that it is not standard English, though. (Both "Is it true that he is your grandson?" and "Is it the case that he is your grandson?" are valid English, but the literal "is it that he is your grandson?" is not.)
Oui,vraiment pourquoi ? "Est-il votre petit-fils?"Il n'y a rien à se tromper,Peut-être
The grandson is not the speaker's relation, but his/her counterpart's.
So if you speak to your boss: "c'est votre petit-fils ?"
IM SO DONE "est-il" is totally acceptable and I am a french girl born and raised im so done with this ive been trying to ace this test for so long
Why is "Est-il ton grand-fils?" wrong? I thought the inversion automatically made the verb interrogative.
See theswt's answer to phil1232's comment for the Est-il part. Also, in French, we say petit-fils, not grand-fils.
The verb is missing. Est-ce qu'il est ton petit fils.. (equivalent to Est-il ton petit-fils.).
"être" is the infinitive form. You need to conjugate it in 3rd person singular since its subject is "il".
1) It lacks a verb.
2) « grand-père » is "grandfather" not "grandson".
3) See theswt's answer at the top.
First of all, you don't need to use -t- when you already have a -t; « est-il » is enough to cover French's need for a consonant sound when inverting. Second, see theswt's answer at the top of the discussion.
"petite-fils" is not correct: petit-fils (masc) or petite-fille (fem).
So they probably gave you a wrong reason for a real error.
Because you missed the verb. What you suggest would back translte to "is it that he [...] your grandson?"
