"Les Anglais ne mangent pas la soupe, ils la boivent."

Translation: The English do not eat soup; they drink it.

[Jered78]

Since it is "la soupe", shouldn't "The English do not eat the soup" be valid? I would figure that if it was soup in general that the partitive article ("de soupe"?) would be used.

[AshokKanet]

I was marked wrong for simply adding "the" before "soup".

I just can't understand why DL choose to drop "the" when there is a definitive article "la" in the French sentence.

I agree with Jered78 that if it had been a partitive article "de instead, the English translation would have been " The English do not eat soup..."

Any comment from a moderator, please?

[CommeuneTexane]

Hello AshokKanet,

In this sentence, la soupe is not referring to a specific soup, but soups in general using the definite article la. French retains the articles no matter what, but in English the articles are dropped when referring to things in general.

Here is a great explanation on when not to use the definite article in English.

[AshokKanet]

Merci, CommeuneTexane. The link is also useful.

[CommeuneTexane]

Je vous en prie !

[AshokKanet]

I notice that there are a number of ways to respond to "Merci beaucoup". In addition to your response Je vous en prie, one can say "de rien", "bienvenue", "pas de problèm", "vous êtes les bienvenus.

Are there specific situations where one or the other expression is used?

[CommeuneTexane]

Je vous en prie/je t'en prie are slightly more formal ways of saying you're welcome in French, but commonly used.

De rien is a little more informal, but also very common and can be used in most situations. A stranger opens the door for you, you say "merci," they will likely say, "de rien." A friend does a favor for you, they will likely say "de rien" to your thanks.

Pas de problème is even more casual than de rien.

Bienvenue/vous êtes les bienvenus is not used in France to say you're welcome. This would be confusing since there it is used as a greeting. It maybe used in Canada, but it would be considered an "anglicisme," something copied from English.

You can also say "ça me fait plaisir" or "tout le plaisir est pour moi" (it's my pleasure) in response to "merci."

[pharmyogi]

I heard Les Oncles .....

[CommeuneTexane]

Hmm, the audio is pretty clear to my ears and the two words are quite distinct.

Here is "les Anglais": https://howdoyousaythatword.com/word/anglais/

And here is oncle: https://www.pronounceitright.com/pronunciation/oncle-7496

[Ripcurlgirl]

Great links Tex - I have bookmarked both ;)

[ThomasFran621601]

I prefer to consume my soup.

[roy.leihong]

I'm not a native English speaker. Is this sentence true or just kidding? Could anybody please explain the VERBs used with soup in English, in different countries or areas?

[RalucaM29]

I wrote "The English people don't eat soup" instead of simply "The English", the rest is exactly the same and they marked it as incorrect. I can't see why.

[CommeuneTexane]

Added, thanks!