"We read the book."

Translation: Nous lisons le livre.

[Covey]

The system gives the French present tense as the only correct answer, but in fact the English sentence could mean either past or present.

[v-insanity]

I think given the specific context (it is a question in the beginner's french section) it is clear it should be present tense. I understand and agree with your point, however.

[Manetheran]

If the question comes up from a "practice your weakest words" there's no indication of the level being tested.

[dbucar]

again the same thing!
why is it definite when i read it, and undefinite when i write a book?
in both cases the book is the object of the sentence.
i don't know what to conclude any more.

[v-insanity]

"the book" = le livre; whereas "a book" = un livre

[kirakrakra]

Books that you read exist. You can therefore read a book or a specific book: the book.

What you write does not become definite before it is ready.

[superdeux]

is "on" equal to "nous"????

[thearavindhk]

http://french.about.com/od/grammar/ss/subjectpronouns_5.htm

[Blakels]

No, it is equal to we

[Blakels]

Or not. Im not so sure.

[adzevs123]

It means 'the royal we' but we use the il/elle version of the verb for it e.g. On lit.

[andricia]

how can I discover if the sentence is in the singular or plural third person it is impossible

[mikel_sama]

Hello. I've been really confused with the conjugation on the verbs. I try to memorize when to use lisons, lisent, lis etc but I think it would be better to know the rules to conjugation.. Can someone give me a run down on it? Even if just briefly? Thank you

[donuttjello]

what is the diffrence between "lisons" and "lisez"?

[jojofleetfoot]

we read = nous lisons,

you (plural) read = vous lisez

[adzevs123]

Lisons is for 'Nous' which means 'we'. Lisez is for 'Vous' which mean you (plural). All verbs are different for different subjects in a sentence

[cielfrancais]

Lisons is we read plural and lisez is you read plural

[dansowter]

A bit rough here to disregard the possibility that the English sentence is in past tense.

[bobtackett]

You've got a long way to go before you have to worry about the past tense. Somewhere past level 11.

[Mitchell3000]

How is livre masculine? It has an E at the end of the word? Isn't that normally a feminine word?

[SarahWaldrop]

Question - is it permissible to drop the "nous" and just say "Lisons le livre," the way you can drop subject pronouns when the conjugation makes the subject obvious in Spanish? For example, in Spanish I would probably just say "Leemos el libro" instead of "Nosotros leemos el libro," but when I typed "Lisons le livre" it said I was wrong.

[r1c03]

I'm ok with that.

[LydiaAntho]

But I thoughtit would be livres because more than one person is reading? Is livres on used when theres more than one book?

[LydiaAntho]

*only not on

[naomi_cat]

How do you pronounce lisons?

[TeaspoonThomas]

Why do you use 'le' instead of 'il'?

[HydraNox]

On lit le livre. Thats what they gave for the correct answer. Can someone explain that?

[zechjoelene]

How would i say WE ARE READING THE BOOK.

[kirakrakra]

Just as you say WE READ THE BOOK/ NOUS LISONS LE LIVRE

French does not have progressive presens