"Elle prend souvent son petit-déjeuner là."
Translation:She often has breakfast there.
28 Comments
"Has" should be since it is the colloquial translation. I was scared to try it though so opted for the old-fashioned "takes" and got marked correct.
707
Why not "she often BRINGS her breakfast there"? The peek does have BRING as the third option for PREND but it rejected it in my answer.
prendre __ petit-déjeuner is a French phrase that means to have breakfast. Prendre cannot be taken to mean anything else in the specific phrase. If you wanted to say she "brings" her breakfast there, you might use apporter or porter instead.
- 165
Can you use the same construction for having lunch and dinner? Prendre déjeuner — prendre dîner?
It was my understanding that "là" can always mean "here" or "there", is there context to this? I've been trying to use "là" consistently to mean "here" - I read somewhere that "là" is more commonly used in spoken French than "ici".
It depends on where you are. "là" can mean either "here" or "there", and it's mostly context and regional preference that dictates the exact meaning. "ici" always means "here", and whether it's preferred for "here" depends on region and context. I can't imagine my mother telling me to come "là", for example (she's from Gaspé). There's also "là-bas" (sp?), which I've seen Duolingo treat the same as "là", but at least in Quebec, seems to always mean "there" or "over there" (which Duolingo doesn't accept at all).
I put She often HAVE her breakfast there and Duolingo corrected me. Do you correct my English or my French?
In English, have is usually a composition verb, used to say I have done something. The construction have + verb indicates a more past tense (le pluparfait in French, if I'm right).
Because all we're using is the present tense right now, it should be "she eats" or "she has" her breakfast. One might also say "she takes" her breakfast (in the sense that one might "take" a pill), but it's a rarely used turn of phrase in English.
Frequently and often are not similar? With lá I have the same problemlike the other ones.
I wrote "she frequently has her breakfast there" and was marked wrong for not using the word "often" instead of "frequently." To me, as a native English speaker, those words are 100% synonymous.
Normally, I'd be careful about assuming that synonyms in English always back-translate to the same French word. But in this case, it does seem to be that they both translate to souvent and that this should be reported.
How would you say; 'she often takes his breakfast there'? I had the image of a mum taking breakfast to a child in another room
At the very least, I think the verb would have to be something like apporter. In other words, you need "take" as in "transport" not "take" as in "grab" or "receive."
Though both would probably be understood in the same way in English and French, pluralizing "takes his breakfast" isn't really common, bordering on wrong. Plus the fact that you were given the singular in French drives the translation towards the singular in English.
- 165
It is not the plural of the noun 'breakfast', but the conjugation of the verb 'to breakfast' which is a valid English verb for having your breakfast.
My mistake. I read the question for some reason as asking about the validity of "She often takes her breakfasts there," rather than "She often breakfasts there." As for why the latter is not accepted, I can't see a good reason, since there doesn't really exist to my knowledge a pure verb in French for "to (have) breakfast" other than to use «prendre le petit-déjeuner» (or perhaps «manger») like it is here.
There's nothing to indicate buying. All it says is that she has/takes breakfast there. Maybe she gets free breakfasts there. Maybe it refers to her own patio or dining room.
Why takes and not has breakfast. As far as i know use yo be yo have breakfast
Is it correct than "prendre", to take something, is used when not dealing with a possession where "a" would be used?
What's wrong with "She often gets her breakfast there"? I'm a native English speaker and that's how I'd say it.
