- Forum >
- Topic: French >
- "These are your prisoners."
"These are your prisoners."
Translation:Ce sont vos prisonniers.
28 Comments
34
ces is only used before nouns. Ce sont tes prisonniers (these are your prisoners) Ces prisonniers sont les tiens (these prisoners are yours)
Because even when the subject is plural, you keep "ce" (which, yes, is singular) and add the plural verb. But ONLY when "ce" is used as a subject.
Thank you frenchking and jaydenms for the comprehensive explanations!
Because votre can only be used with singular nouns. Since you are talking about multiple prisoners, it must be « vos prisonniers » (or « tes prisonniers » for informal singular).
Why is 'prisonniers' including an accent, "prisonnièrs' when using 'tes' ? Can some one explain ? Is this a rule that follows other words as well ?
- 2106
It has nothing to do with using "tes". le prisonnier is masculine singular, les prisonniers is masculine plural; la prisonnière is feminine singular, les prisonnières is feminine plural. So these are female prisoners. http://www.larousse.com/en/dictionaries/french-english/prisonnier/63282
No good reason I know of, except the accent ("détenus"). Report it if you used it..
That would be the translation of "Here are your prisoners" (as if you were getting someone's attention to hand over their prisoners). Ce sont... is purely descriptive.
Ceux-ci sont tes/vos prisonniers?
Celles-ci sont tes/vos prisonniers?
I get really confused about the use of demonstrative pronouns.
It must be: « Ceux-ci sont tes/vos prisonniers », since « prisonniers » is masculine. And « Celles-ci sont tes/vos prisonnières », since « prisonnières » is feminine.
They both mean "your prisoners", but « tes » is used if you're speaking to one person informally. « Vos » is used if you are either speaking to one person formally, or to multiple people (as in, multiple people having multiple prisoners).
Why not "Ceux-ci"? Ceux is a Pronoun substantive right? Shouldn't it be possible?
Duolingo prefers ceux-ci translated as "these ones" (to specifically mark a difference from "those ones"), and prefers ce sont translated as the simple (and more vague) statement "These/those are... ".
Remember that possessive adjectives and pronouns agree with the gender and number of the object, not the possessor, only it's even easier with votre and notre since they are the same in masculine & feminine. So, informally, « ton prisonnier » = your male prisoner ; « ta prisonnière » = your female prisoner ; « tes prisonniers » = your prisoners ; « tes prisonnières » = your all-female prisoners. "You" (the possessor) stays the same.
Votre is singular : « votre prisonnier » = your male prisoner ; « votre prisonnière » = your female prisoner. Vos is plural : « vos prisonniers » = your prisoners ; « vos prisonnières » = your all-female prisoners. "You" (the possessor) again stays the same.
- 1184
Hi etotheitau1. I think it's because 'tiens' is a verb and means 'hold' or 'take'. Duolingo does say it means 'yours' but I am not sure how it would be used in the way that you are trying to use it.
In English 'yours' is a possessive pronoun and requires a person to be present, for example, in a conversation, "Hey Bob, these boxes are yours." "Really? Thanks Jeff." I don't think this context is implied in this sentence because there aren't any people specifically mentioned.
This sentence, however, says 'your' which is a possessive determiner and doesn't always require a person to be present. Since the English sentence uses a determiner, I think this also means that you have to use a French determiner, like 'vos'. I hope this helps!
