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- "C'est Bruno."
"C'est Bruno."
Translation:He is Bruno.
34 Comments
I said "It's Bruno" (as in, 'hey, look- it's Bruno!'), but was marked wrong. "He is Bruno" sounds like an awkward English construction to me.
The reason for this construct is to teach that "c'est" also means he is, she is, this is and that is, and that is how the French understand it when referring to people. Reflexively, new learners see "c'est" and think it is or it's, but that isn't always the case. The next thing to learn is when to use "c'est" versus "il est/elle est." The lessons in the skill "Gallicism" are an attempt to clarify that.
Why not “il est Bruno”. There’s no article/determinants to follow the verb “est”
There are set rules when to use each and they are not interchangeable. https://www.thoughtco.com/french-expressions-cest-vs-il-est-4083779
That's Bruno, or, it's Bruno, would be more common for me to say, but I'm from New Jersey. "He is Bruno" suggests he is not something else. He is Bruno, but used to be Brunhilda: maybe.
Well, if someone asked "Who is he?", then you could answer "He is Bruno." but in French you have to use "C'est Bruno." and they are trying to get you to understand that "He is Bruno." cannot be "Il est Bruno." in French, as you must say "C'est Bruno."
I agree though that if someone said "Who is that?" we would answer "That's Bruno." and I don't know another way to translate that. If you knock on the door, and someone asks "Who is it? you would answer "C'est moi." So, again, "C'est" can be "It is", "That is", "This is", "He is" or "She is". I think that they are working on the last two meanings in this lesson though.
This is Bruno and that's Bruno are also both accepted. He is Bruno is also a good answer to "who is he?" "He is Bruno."
That is helpful if they are accepting them now. They were not originally accepting those answers for this particular sentence in this unit of lessons.
A man just walks thru the door on the other side of the room and someone asks, "Who is that?" "It's Bruno." This is what Americans say, not "He is Bruno." To get "He is Bruno" you have to start with a question of which person, or maybe dog, is Bruno among two or more. "Is he B?" "No, he is B," you would say, pointing at B.
Somehow today, after getting all golden to 62, lots of my circles have gone back to colors, lots of them, from the very first one, so that is why I am here on this lesson. So I know that this lesson is trying to get across that people say "C'est" instead of "Il" when they mean "he." But this lesson does not get that across.
Who is that? That's Bruno. Yes, we do say "it's" too in English. At the moment we haven't decided as a team whether to accept "it" in this particular lesson, and of course the main goal is to demonstrate how it is used in French and to show early on that "c'est" can mean much more that "it's."
As far as the colored skills, whenever a new skill is added to a tree or new words are added to a skill that weren't there before, the circle becomes colored. Since this a new tree, there were many changes made. Unfortunately only staff can answer your questions about why the release was done this way or why there isn't a way to test out of an early skill. (I wish!) Fortunately, you shouldn't have to repeat all the lessons in a skill, it goes very fast, and the word strength for words you have already done has not changed.
However if you would like to file a bug report, here is the form. Or you can create a new post in the discussions. Those are two ways to get the attention of the staff and perhaps in future trees they will open up past checkpoints during A/B tests for more advanced learners to test out.
Everything's fine now. I whine some, occasionally, having had a lot of French in high school and college 50 years ago, and for the life of me cannot remember where I put it after not using it all these years.
:-) The French is still there, tucked away in some corner of your mind. I hope the new tree will give you opportunity to remember those words and expression you learned back then. (PS. It's is accepted now, btw.)
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Every word you have written conveys my thoughts and describes my experience (golden circles turning to colors again). Please accept my lingot.
Thanks. Sometimes I stay on too long and get frustrated. But do you know why all the golden circles went back to colors? I went from about 60 or so to 30. Yet my fluency stayed at 65%. And ideas?
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It would appear that new content has been added, and many lessons have been restructured. I presume that the colours are a way of identifying where that new content is for us to review. Though it would have been good if this could have been communicated in an alert.
I understand the intent of the lesson, but it is also important to understand the equivalent English translation. "He is Bruno." makes perfect sense in English, and there are plenty of situations where it may be important to emphasize Bruno's gender, but it does feel a bit peculiar.
Most often, we couldn't care less whether 'Bruno' is male, female, fish or fowl! When Bruno shows up, or is in our presence we greet the occasion with, "It's Bruno!" or identify Bruno to others with, "It's/this is/that's Bruno." and the rest is for the others to figure out. (Usually not a very difficlt task.)
"Bruno did it!", "Which one is Bruno?", "He is Bruno!" Simple really buuuuuut 'It's Bruno' or 'That's Bruno' should also be accepted.
In response to "Which one is Bruno?" the most likely answers would be, 'That one' or 'Him' However, the point is that while 'He is Bruno' is possible in very rare circumstances, 'It's Bruno' should be accepted by DL, as it is the most likely sentence to be said in the UK. I couldn't speak for other English speaking countries.
It would be very rare, if ever, that "He is Bruno" would be said. As has been said, "It's Bruno." would be much more likely. It would be, " His name is Bruno." if talking about his name. So, if It's Bruno is wrong, as we have been marked, how do you say, "It's Bruno." in response to "Who is it?"? Also, in response to "Who is he?", it's highly unlikely that "He is Bruno." would be an acceptable or sensible answer. It would have to be qualified by, e.g. Amy's boyfriend, Peter's dad etc.
If Bruno should phone somebody, and the person should ask: qui est la? Bruno would surely answer: C'est Bruno....... so "it's Bruno" and not "he is Bruno".
The French have very specific rules when to use “c’est” and when to use « il est » . With a name following, it will be « c’est » .
The following link explains when to use each, but please press “Continue reading” as the first page has barely anything.
https://www.thoughtco.com/french-expressions-cest-vs-il-est-4083779
Wait wouldn't Il est bruno mean he is bruno? I'm a bit crusty on my french :/
It does not exist in French. Proper names by themselves come after « C’est » to mean “He is Bruno.”, “It’s Bruno.”, That’s Bruno.” or “This is Bruno.”
« Il est » and « C’est » are not exchangeable as there are set rules for when to use each of them.
https://www.thoughtco.com/french-expressions-cest-vs-il-est-4083779
Of course, you can say « Il s’appelle Bruno. » if you are just introducing his name.
It is rather amusing that French is so specific about which you use. « C’est Bruno. Il est médecin. Il est intelligent, mon ami Bruno. C’est bizarre. C’est mon ami, mais je ne sais pas s’il aime des frites. »
