46 Comments
When spoken, how can you tell the difference between 'elle' and 'elles'?? And is there any clue in the rest of the sentence that suggests that is should be 'elles'?
In this case, yes. There are two clues that it is 'elles' and not 'elle'. The first one is the liason. The 's' at the end of 'elles' is pronounced before the é, so ot sounds like "el seh-kreev" The second one is the conjugation of the verb. It sounds with a v sound at the end, whereas if it were singular (écris, if I'm not mistaken), it would sound like "el eh-kree". Dont completely trust this, though...
This is why it is important to be sure to always listen to the normal speed sentence. I usually play it at the end if I need the slow version at all. Turtle speed only gives individual word pronunciation, but its the translation between two words that is so often important when understanding differences in plurality.
Why are you taking Jesus's name in vain do you know that that's rude and disobeying The Ten Commandments that Moses gave to the Israelites
They shouldnt have named him Jesus cuz every time you call him you are taking the Lords Name in vain. I do not know why so many people in Islamic countries are named Mohammed and if you take his name in vain once you are killed by ISIS
elle means she elles is feminine for they (Really meaning a group of women) ill is he and ills can mean the (It can be used for a group of mean and a group of men and women)
'Ils' is used when there are a mixed group of boys and girls (Even if there are 20 girls and 1 boy in the entire group, Ils is used). 'Elles' is all girls.
Pronounce the S if the following word begins with a vowel, Elles is the dominant word for deciding singular or plural, all other words become plural because of the dominating word Elles
Why can "des" be "the" as "another translation" strawberries but not with "letters"?
Yeah, in another sentence it's "the" and then "some". Profusely confused.
Des means "some" as well, though it's not a definition given in this and other examples when you tap the word individually. I'm still beginning, but if my mother language, Portuguese, another Latin language, is any reference, the word "des" is not necessary and you could probably omit it. Someone else should confirm that though.
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The "normal speed" audio sounds wrong, like there's something in between Elles and écrivent... like "Alors écrivent des lettres". Anybody else think so?
When the following word begins with a vowel the normally silent cue will often connect the two words.
Yes it sounds like it's purposely pronouncing the "s" sound in "elles" to let us know it's the plural form rather than "elle". But yes it sounds like "elle azz ecri..."
Is anyone else finding that words ending in -ent sound like that part is missing. The phonetics of this sounds like "ellers ecreeve day lettr", as opposed to what I'd expect: "Ellers ecreevont day lettr". I keep getting tripped up by this.
When you have verb forms ending in -ent, you don't pronnounce the ending. I think it's because since e's are not usually pronounced unless they have an accent mark, there is no spoken vowel to link the end of the verb's stem (a consonant) to the "-nt" (more consonants). By dropping the pronunciation of -ent, the words sound a lot smoother.
I keep getting confused with they write letters and they are writing letters How would we say they write letters?
I'm on the same page with you. Have absolutely no idea:( I always thought that "They write a letter" translates as "Elles/Ils écrivent une lettre", while "They are writing a letter" translates as "Elles/Ils sont en train d'écrire un lettre".
I hope someone will help me.
Why do I have to write "des lettres" and not only "lettres" like: "Elles écrivent lettres"?
In order to answer your question I´m pretty much copying pasting Duolingo´s tips. (Very first lesson)
In English, articles may be omitted, but French nouns almost always have an article. French has three types of articles:
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Definite articles ("the") are used with specific nouns that are known to the speakers.(le, la , les)
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Indefinite articles ("a"/"an"/"one") are used for countable nouns that are unspecified or unknown to the speakers. (un , une , des)
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Partitive articles ("some"/"any") indicate a quantity of something uncountable.(du/de l', de la/de l')
Thanks...I have never seen any link to tips from the mobile version - just drop down boxes
I should have looked for it lol now i can see the difference between "des" and "les", for example! thank you, i really understand it now
It's because there's no "the" in the sentence. The sentence "Elles écrivent des lettres" translates to either "They are writing letters" or "They are writing some letters". If you wanted to say "They write the letters" it would be "Elles écrivent les lettres". Hope this helps!
"The girls are writing letters" - incorrect. I guess this isn't a literal translation, but it is pretty close... no? Especially in common parlance?
You guys can try women, girls, females, widows, queens, madams, whatever... it won't work. It's simpler than that. Lol I'm teaching "mes chiennes" to write "des lettres" by the way!
Doesn't "de" mean of? So why can't it be "les" lettres instead of "des" lettres?
Can I use sentence: elles écrivent les lettres in real life as well, or only this form is correct?
Is there a difference in pronunciation between << Elles écrivent des lettres >> and << Elle écrive des lettres >> ie. Between "They are writing letters" and "She is writing letters" ?
Yes, the former has a liason (audible link between the s in Elles and the é of the verb) and the verb ends in a 'eeve' sound. The latter has no liason and the verb is pronounced 'ee-kree'. thus the plural is pronounced (el-see-kreeve) and the singular is (el-ee-kree).
