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- Topic: French >
- "Ils ont un journal."
47 Comments
Third person plural of 'avoir'. I suggest with duolingo, or any language program, you invest in a used french text (amazon sells used books) or just a basic french language book. It will show the conjugations and basic grammar. Makes it easier. Also, if you cursor over the word 'ont' here you'll see 'conjugations' pop up.
https://www.duolingo.com/skill/fr/Verbs:-Present-1
The heading "One Each" at the bottom of that page says the following about indefinite articles (i.e. un/une/des):
"The indefinite article doesn't always refer to just one thing. Sometimes, it can mean one thing each. Consider these examples:
"Ils ont un manteau — They have one coat / They each have one coat Ils ont des manteaux — They have some coats / They each have some coats"
Seems a bit confusing, huh? How does one know whether they, as a group, have one newspaper or whether they each have one?
If "they" can be either masculine (ils) or feminine (elles), what do you use when refering to a group of both male and female (or unknown)?
110
I don't remember that sentence. Was it: Ont-ils un journal? This sentence shows a question with the subject and verb reversed; hence, the hyphen.
I answered, "Ils ont ton journal" (they have your newspaper) … any "tricks" on distinguishing between a liaison sound AND two separate words? "ont un" et "ont ton" sound the same when spoken, no? As a note, in my case, this exercise was listening to spoken French and writing what was said (there was NO translation).
119
I thought you had to put emphasis on the z ils z ont ils zont sound I only hear il ont not il zont
"Newspaper" is countable: one, two, three, four newspapers. Compare that to "flour," which is uncountable. Can't have one, two, three, four flours. The flour would have to be put into a countable form/container. One CUP of flour (counting the cups). Two BAGS of flour (counting bags). Three POUNDS of flour (counting pounds). It's a simple test once you get the hang of it.
I mostly get confused with "Une" and "Un" because in the french version une has an e at the end but un does not. Mostly when I do the lesson it says one is correct then another time it says a difefrent one is correct.
Sorry but I forgot to comment on 'La tortue manges les pâtes'. So, why is the circumflex used? Why isn't it 'La tortue manges les pâstes' so that it sounds like 'pasta'? Well, the circumflex (or chapeau, literally 'hat') is used to indicate that there was an 's' before. If you see any loanwords, those will have an 's' in it. Example- fête