"It is sunny."
Translation:Il y a du soleil.
57 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
Soleil is a noun and you must have an article before it so you need to say "du soleil" for sunny or "du vent" for windy.
I understand we need to use "Du" with Soleil. However, I still cannot understand why this change when you add "Beaucoup" for example"
-Il y a du soleil -Il y a beaucoup de soleil
When the verb is negated or after an expression of quantity using "de", the indefinite article or partitive article disappears and only "de" remains:
- Il y a du soleil
- Il n'y a pas de soleil
- Il y a peu de/un peu de/autant de/plus de/moins de/beaucoup de soleil
Well, "il fait soleil" is in the Tips section: https://www.duolingo.com/skill/fr/Weather/tips
Il fait soleil is accepted now, by the way. 2020.07.22.
I believe that Il fait soleil and Il fait du soleil should be accepted.
727
fait, in the infinitive is faire, which means 'to do' or 'to make'. When used with the weather, the close translation is 'it is ...' or 'the weather is ...'.
mauvais(e) means bad.
- 1475
il y a du soleil, c'est ensoleillé ( aujourd'hui ) are good tanslations in french ( I am natif )
I taught a class with several French-speaking African students and they always insisted on using "ensoleillé".
- 727
There are many dialects of French, and therefore different ways to say things have developed. If you're learning the French spoken in Africa, then use ensoleillé. But Duo is teaching the French spoken in France where they say "il fait (du) soleil."
Why do you say Il pleu for its raining, and Il y a du soleil for it's sunny. What is the difference. I put Il soleil, of course it was wrong?
From reading the discussion forums on WordRef, that expression appears to only be in use in Canada → I could find no French natives of France (the French taught here on Duolingo) that use the expression c'est ensoleillé in reference to the weather.
It appears that the adjective ensoleillé is only used with le temps est → Les temps est ensoleillé but that it is rather formal and mainly used by weathermen :-).
https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/sunny-rainy.303533/#post-1821131
https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/its-sunny-and-windy.3122167/#post-15791253
Sorry, no, not if it is a uniquely Canadian French expression. Duolingo French is set to "parler la française de la France". Just as Duolingo Spanish teaches Latin American Spanish and ignores or rejects many Castillan phrases or words.
This information is very good to know. Thank you so very much. I knew about the Brazilian Portuguese as oppose to Portugal's Portuguese.
- 1782
But how do we know if an expression is uniquely used in Canada? If that is the way the society expresses itself, then that is the accepted norm and not questioned. In the US, no one questions the use of "soccer" for the word football. I understand the dilemma here. i.e. How far does a regional expression have to travel before it finds wide acceptance? But there is a difference between being wrong and having just colourful or accented speech. I think that in this case both word choices are comprehensible to each other, and to a neutral third party. Look at the accents found in Nice and Antwerp or Tennessee US and Oxford UK. Yet both can understand each other. In this case, I think that DL should accept ensoleille. Language is a vibrant, constantly evolving, living entity.
- 1782
This is most helpful. Thank you. Ensoleille is most common to me. I had no idea that it is a regionalism and not used everywhere. Un gros merci. Have a lingot for that tidbit of insight.
No it does not!!
"fait" is the third person singular present indicative of the infinitive faire → "to make, to do".
"faut", as in "Il faut", is the 3rd person singular present indicative of the infinitive falloir → "it is necessary, must".
They are two completely different verbs.
Remember that "c'" is a real subject. So, "c'est ensoleillé" cannot be a general comment as "il y a du soleil/il fait du soleil". You might use it if "c'" has an antecedent but it would be rare.
Here is what the Académie Française answered to a German teacher:
- 1475
I understood your explication, but " c " represents or ( stand for ? ) the weather for me
how will you translate this difference
thanks
"C'est" is not often used to describe an overall weather condition, but "il fait" or "il y a" or "le temps est" or "le ciel est". It is not impossible, but the other options are better.
When it comes to "ensoleillé(e)(s)" in particular, you can use it to describe various things: un jardin/un climat/un temps ensoleillé; une journée ensoleillée.
So, as I said something shortened to "c'", or better "il" or "elle" can be "ensoleillé(e)", but a specific context is necessary.
If I remember correctly (and it is a very long time ago!) I was taught that le soleil brille meant the sun is shining. Similar but maybe not exact enough for DL (if you tried it and it wasn't accepted)?
- 656
I thought it would be considered good, but Duo says it is wrong. To me it sounds better to say this instead of "il y a du soleil", even if it is the litteral translation.
Il y a du soleil: masculine, uncountable noun.
Il y a de la pluie: feminine, uncountable noun.
- 1221
Nouns almost always need articles in French. "du" = "de le" = "some"
The literal translation is "there is some sun".
- 518
il y a du soleil => there is the sun, according to google;
whereas it's sunny translates as il fait beau.
According to google.
and also, in this context, google gives a common phrase "il fait soleil".
but the prime translation stands as "il fait beau".
- 1221
That looks like a mistake in Google Translate. "il y a du soleil" means "there is some sun" (i.e. it's sunny). "there is the sun" is "il y a le soleil". Test all those sentences both ways in Google Translate and you'll see what I mean.
- 250
I put il y a du vent or il y a du soleil and it's marked wrong BUT when they bring up it's windy or sunny and I put the DU they mark it wrong and put DE. I don't know why I even bother to do this if they are going mark things wrong when I'm answering things the way they want them.