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- Topic: French >
- "C'est le lapin des enfants."
30 Comments
It is the kids' rabbit should be accepted. Kids and children are used pretty interchangeably
Right, kids' were not accepted, but should be. There is some inconsistency, 'kids' are accepted in some other cases.
2308
For consistency, "child" is "enfant" and "kid" is "gamin(e)". There may be some lingering versions where "kid" is accepted for "enfant", but it not the expected translation.
I realize it's awkward to say in english but why is "It is the rabbit of the children" not acceptable?
I've run into similar issues. I think it might be precisely because it's awkward in English. Technically correct, on a word-for-word basis, but it doesn't reflect a faithful translation. I've learned a lot from what Duo will and won't accept, and I think that's how we grow in our study of language.
Might sound silly, but is there a way I can keep track of who owns what in a French sentence? I keep writing the rabbit's children instead of the children's rabbit.
Word for word translation isn't really useful when you go against phraseology in either language. In a sense a duo (or trio, etc, lingo approach is to make speakers and listeners able to automatically do the inversions which might be needed for translating one language to another. If you wanted to say to a French person 'It's the children's rabbit, you'd need to have internalized the grammatical shift. So Duo presents is (more or less) with what makes sense in each language
I was having trouble with hearing "le". I confused it with "leur", however, "c'est" was used. In order to say "it is their" would you say "ce sont leur" or "c'est leur"? If the latter, how would we differentiate between "le" and "leur" if they sound almost alike?
There is a pronunciation difference between leur and le, although it can be subtle. However the difference is des enfants at the end - I dont think leur would be used in that phrase.
- 2308
If you heard "c'est", you know that it refers to a singular noun (le lapin). Remember that "ce sont" (they are) is the plural of "c'est" (it is). Ce sont cannot be "it is". The problem introduced by mistaking "leur" (possessive word) for "le" (definite article) is that you already have a possessive phrase that comes after, i.e., (le) lapin des enfants. The result does not make any sense in French and so could not be coherently translated to English. Try to understand the whole French expression first and then translate it to English.
That would mean it's a type of rabbit for children; a children's rabbit, not the rabbit belonging to the children.
- 2308
Please refer to the comment from C.J.Dennis above. "Des" in this context the way to form a possessive when the owner is plural, i.e., le lapin des enfants = the children's rabbit, literally "the rabbit of the children". In English, the standard way of expressing it is "the children's rabbit". Some stop short of a full translation and are left with the word-for-word version, "the rabbit of the children". It is technically not wrong, but it is not the most common English either.
There are different uses for the French "des". One is (as you say) the plural of "un/une". The other is used with plural possessive forms, as in this sentence, "c'est le lapin des enfants". Do not confuse these two different uses of "des".
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You will never hear any liaisons with the slow audio. In the slow playback, you will hear each word pronounced in isolation. Liaisons are only detected when words are pronounced together.
- 2308
Of course you can. "C'est" may be translated as "it is", "this is", or "that is". In an appropriate context, it may also be "he is" or "she is", depending on what follows.
- 2308
This is the way that possession is expressed in French.
- le lapin des enfants = the children's rabbit
- la pomme de la fille = the girl's apple
- le livre du garçon = the boy's book
Why must we say 'it is' here rather than the 'this is' as insisted upon elsewhere.
The sound is glitched when the speaker produces "des" slowly. It's night time here and therefore it creeps me out lols haha.
