37 Comments
that recording of 'donc' is so funny! Do people have to say it with that intonation?
"Le singe mange une orange" is a phrase in Duolingo! My favorite phrase on Duo so far. So adorably cacophonous!
I thought it was strange the first time I heard it but that's probably because it reminds me of the sound made when cartoon characters bop each other over the head in old cartoons. So when I heard it used in language for the first time and out of this context I thought, "That's a strange sounding word."
why is it il bois DU lait - for he drinks milk but il aime LA nourriture - for he likes food.....?
il boit du lait = he drinks some milk, ie an unspecified quantity of milk. So, partitive with de+definite article.
il aime le lait /la nourriture = he likes milk / food, ie milk or food in general. So, generality with definite article.
Please note that appreciative verbs (aimer, détester, préférer, haïr, apprécier) naturally introduce generalities, to be constructed with definite article le/la/les.
Duo should accept both "the food" (the one on the table, for ex) or "food" (in general)
If you are hearing this sentence, how do you know whether (1) he likes the food he is eating, or (2) he likes food in general, and therefore he is eating regardless of how good his food is?
1) "il aime la nourriture" exactly means "he likes food in general" 2) "donc" means "consequently", therefore there is a cause to effect link between the 2 parts of the sentence.
You can then logically deduct that he likes what he is eating, since there is not much doubt that what he is eating is food.
717
In this example, it makes more sense in English to say the food rather than food in general. On the multiple choice question that I had the only correct answer was food in general. That is a construction so unusual in the given context that I had to think about it for a minute. Luckily the other choices were obviously wrong.
I guess Duo is trying to remind students of the possible general use of la.
"That is a construction so unusual in the given context that I had to think about it for a minute"
It doesn't seem that unusual to me but maybe that betrays my roots in the North of England: "Eh, she likes her food does Doris" "Aye. That'll be why she's the size of a bus"
If you really want to pull them apart, you would consider that "alors" is mostly temporal (= puis, ensuite, après = then) but has other meanings like "so, therefore".
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"j'avais alors très faim, donc je me suis préparé un sandwich"
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"j'avais faim, alors je me suis préparé un sandwich"
"Donc" is massively used to introduce a logical link, a conclusion, a cause to effect transition.
- "Cogito, ergo sum" = je pense, donc je suis (I exist, as a logical consequence of the fact that I am thinking)
Surely it does, because of the verb: aimer, détester, adorer, haïr, préférer, apprécier are always constructed with definite articles le, la or les.
why is mange in this case not the full verb manger, i though that second and third verbs were the infinitive?.
how come 'will eat' is not an acceptable translation for mange in this sentence.
Hello random people on the net. I don't understand why it in this sentence i get a wrong answer "il aime la nourriture, donc il manger". I translated it into "he loves the food, so he eats" it says im wrong because it is LIKES and not LOVES. Any Frenchie national and or expert with a little bit of wisdom? I figure it is like the spanish Gustar/Amar difference, but not really sure
"il aime la nourriture, donc il mange"
- aimer + concrete objects or concepts = to like
- la nourriture = food in general (no article in English)
Should also be he loves food, so he eats. I realise that is adorer but sometimes aimer is used for love eg je t'aime. Translates better we would say he loves food, rather than likes food
He loves food = Il adore la nourriture.
Please read the rules here: https://duome.eu/tips/en/zz#z04
