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- Topic: French >
- "La fille mange."
26 Comments This discussion is locked.
1604
In challenges where you have to "Listen and type in French", there is:
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a big button with a speaker: you can use this button to listen to the sentence at the normal speed.
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under this button, there is a smaller speaker and the word "slower" (with a turtle): if you hit either the small speaker or the word "slower", then you can listen to the sentence at a slower pace.
1604
In French, there is no continuous tense (for example, we say: "Je mange", whether in a definite or indefinite period of time.).
You can use the idiomatic phrase "être en train de" to express the idea of continuity. (ex: "Je suis en train de manger." for "I am eating.")
If you hover over the English progressive tense (ex: "am eating"), you will get the hints for the French conjugated tense ("mange").
So, if the meaning of the sentence is "in general", then use the English present simple, for ex: "(In general) I eat rice."
If the meaning of the sentence is "in a definite moment", then use the English present continuous, for ex: "(Now) I am eating rice."
1604
There are conjugation forms for each verb. When you want to know how to conjugate a verb, hover your mouse over it: click on the "conjugate " option, and you'll get a conjugation table.
ex: "manger" (to eat) :
- 1st pers. sing.: Je mange (I eat)
- 2nd pers. sing.: Tu manges (you eat)
- 3rd pers. sing.: Il/Elle/On mange (he/she/one eats)
- 1st pers. plur.: Nous mangeons (we eat)
- 2nd pers. plur.: Vous mangez (you eat)
- 3rd pers. plur.: Ils/Elles mangent. (they eat)
Please also have a look at this comment:
1604
The sound "an" in "mange" belongs to the French "nasal vowels", which are sounds made by expelling air through the mouth and nose with no obstruction of the lips, tongue, or throat.
Usually, vowels followed by "M" or "N" are nasal. When the nasal consonant is followed by another vowel, the vowel and consonant are both voiced. For example:
- "un" (nasal): http://translate.google.com/#fr/en/un
- "une" (voiced): http://translate.google.com/#fr/en/une (click on the speaker button to hear the audio)
You can practice your pronunciation skills with this link for the sound "an":
French has 4 nasal vowels:
"en" and "an":
- "en": e.g., in "vendre" (to sell). "en" becomes "em" before a "M" and a "P": e.g., in "emporter" (to bring)
- "an" becomes "am" before a "M" and a "P": e.g., in "jambe" (leg)
"oin", "ein", "ain", and "in":
- "oin": e.g., in "moins" (less)
- "ein": e.g., in "peindre" (to paint)
- "ain": e.g., in "pain" (bread)
- "in": e.g., in "fin" (fine). "in" becomes "im" before a "M" and a "P": e.g., in "imprimer" (to print)
"on":
- "on": e.g., in "garçon" (boy). "on" becomes "om" before a "M" and a "P": e.g., in "pompe" (pump)
"un":
- "un": e.g., in "un" (one) or "brun" (brown)
1604
The English present progressive "(the girl) is eating" translates usually to the French present tense "(la fille) mange", which is the same tense that we would use to translate the English simple present "(the girl) eats".
But you can also say "(la fille) est en train de manger" (idiomatic phrase), if you want to insist on the fact that the action is currently happening.
1604
You can practice your listening and pronunciation skills with this link:
(Click on the speaker button)
1604
There is a passive voice, that is taught later in the skill tree.
FYI:
- active voice: "Le fille mange une pomme." = "The girl eats an apple".
- passive voice: "Une pomme est mangée par la fille." = "An apple is eaten by the girl".