"L'enfant mange le citron et tu bois du lait."
Translation:The child is eating the lemon and you are drinking milk.
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I said "l'enfants mangent" instead of "l'enfant mange". Is there a significant difference in pronunciation that I am missing?
No difference. But « l'enfants mangent » is incorrect: if you want the plural for kid, you can't use « l' », you need to use « les » : « les enfants mangent » (and so this time it is obviously pronounced differently).
Is there an easy way to remember when to use "boit" and "bois" and "boire"?? These are driving me crazy.
no easy way, really.
Boire is an irregular verb, with a stem change in nous and vous forms. You have to just memorise, annoyingly.
Boire=to drink
Je bois
Tu bois
Il/elle/on boit
Nous buvons
Vous buvez
Ils/elles boivent
Same as any other food :)
There are, in seriousness, people who eat (and enjoy!!) them. I can't do it, but more power to them!
I know plenty of people who do so. They eat the white layer under the peeling, haven't seen anyone eating the whole lemon though. Except when it's cooked/grilled.
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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 ;-)
Never le enfant. Le and la drop their vowel when the next word begins with a vowel: l'
- 1914
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!
- 1914
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.
