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- "C'est un bel oiseau."
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given that lovely, beautiful and pretty all have semantic overlap in English when referencing aesthetic judgements i fail to see why "pretty" is not an acceptable rendering here. I know that French joli is usually translated as pretty, but there is certainly not an exact 1 to 1 semantic mapping between the two terms and we are talking about translation from French to English here, not the other way round.
Hi Andrew. There's a guide to the adjectives which precede the noun they modify. It's called "BANGS" where B=Beauty/Ugliness, A=Age, N=Number,S=Size. There are exceptions but this guide will work most times. BTW, Bel is used here replacing Beau because Oiseau begins with a vowel. Same applies to vowel sounds like "Homme".
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Um, except not here.
When to use "c'est" and when to use "il est" is kind of confusing for Anglophones. But FlyingDucks is quite right, "He's a beautiful bird" is right, although not so much because of "un" but because "oiseau" is a noun. "Il est beau", but "C'est un bel oiseau".
This is a pretty good explanation: http://www.frenchtoday.com/blog/cest-versus-il-elle-est
You're at a much higher level than i am, but as i understand it, belle is used for feminine nouns and beau is usually used for masculine nouns, but cannot be used before a noun that begins with a vowel. When a noun is masculine and begins with a vowel and the adjective is meant to describe beauty (i.e. a "BANGS adjective that must precede the noun) then "bel" is substituted. "Oiseau" is one such noun. I suppose if it were a "big" bird, one could use un beau gros oiseau. But i am a complete novice, so take that with a bit of salt.
Don't take too much credence on the levels, I could do level one basics a thousand times, know no French and have a 25 level. Russ. You seem to know your onions, mate. So I must admit that you have opened up some grammar for me which I will now research and I thank you for that, this is what these threads are for even if Duo are now restricting them. I did know about Bel(le) and Beau by the way but your post is useful. Votre ami JJ.