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- "L'enfant mange le citron et …
"L'enfant mange le citron et tu bois du lait."
Translation:The child is eating the lemon and you are drinking milk.
31 Comments
1652
I love lemons and limes. I keep buying limes to squeeze over cooked meals and end up eating them raw before I've had a chance to use them ;-)
1255
i understood/wrote "l'enfant mange les citrons et tu bois du lait" and it was regarded incorrect. in a listening comprehension i think it's really difficult sometimes to get the "correct" sentence, especially if the "le/les" is not pronounced clearly... and the endings, well, I (!!) can't tell any difference between "citron" and "citrons".
It is the le/la/l' that conveys singular. And the les conveys the plural. This means that it is really important to practice one's oral understanding and skill to distinguish between le and les. The plural s does not change the pronunciation of the word, at least not unless it is before a word beginning with a vowel sound.
You can enter le and les and listen to several native voices saying them at www.forvo.com in order to practice your listening skill. It will become easier with time and practice!
1255
Thank you for the advice.
I actually have already joined up forvo.com, but still - sometimes the pronounciation on DL is not the best, often there are syllables missing or merged together. Well, I suppose, we've all been there... ;)
And after all, DL is free... and I love it! :)
The thing is, when you speak you do contract syllables in most languages. But as beginners we find it frustratiing that the pronounciation of words differ when they are spoken alone from when they are spoken together with other words. An as beginners we do need to practice our understanding of separate words as well as whole phrases.