"Tu aimes les légumes, donc tu manges des haricots."
Translation:You like vegetables, so you eat beans.
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"Donc" is more precise than "alors" when it comes to introduce a logical deduction. But this is not related to the verb "aimer".
What is special with appreciation verbs is that their object is always generalized and as such, it is preceded by a definite article.
- "You like vegetables" means that you like all and any of them as a category.
It is not absolutely impossible to interpret that these "vegetables" could be specific, but the whole sentence is a logical statement, where if you like a whole category of things, then you eat any of its components.
In French, definite articles are required to introduce a generality, category or concept.
"The" is not used for generalities, only for specific things.
With verbs of appreciation (aimer, aimer bien, adorer, apprécier, préférer, détester, haïr, respecter, admirer), the direct object is necessarily a generality and always gets a definite article (le, la, les).
That's interesting. I don't understand why the direct object is necessarily a generality, but I am glad to have this information and will apply it. THanks.
The French definite articles are used for generalities (unlike English) and specific things (as in English).
Context will tell if "la soupe" is specific or "soup in general", but there are cases where it is pretty obvious:
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La soupe est toujours bonne pour les enfants = Soup is always good for children: both "soup" and "children" are generalizations.
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La soupe est chaude, donc fais attention = The soup is hot, so be careful: this is clearly specific.
Please would you discuss the cat, with regard to les or des becoming between him and his vegetables. If Bertrand the cat likes vegetables so he is eating beans, des seems clear. But in English he eats beans could be a generalisation,- he might not have had them for years, though he likes them. That feels more like a Les. Sorry to seem terribly dim but it is this difference in how we use expressions that seems to be tripping us up.
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I put "you like vegetables, so you are eating beans" which is the same thing as the answer above but I got it wrong?
Yes, I think I am stumbling over this same issue. At some point, we learned des is the plural form, however, we also learned, I think that des can mean some. Les is also a plural form, so would the issue be the verb attached, such as aimer, to figure out whether or not to translate les as the, or not? Mostly, I think I ignore des in a sentence, and just use the plural form of the noun. Comments?
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Shirlgirl007 - when I found that I couldn't understand or make myself understood in a forum, I went to the Duo Discussion tab and started a new discussion asking the question again. I had my answer in under 2 days. The new "eyes" on it made a big difference. Good Luck!
No, because it is incorrect and more or less meaningless.
If you like vegetables, you like them all, not only some of them.
With all verbs of appreciation (aimer, aimer bien, adorer, préférer, détester, haïr, admirer, respecter), the direct object is always a generalization, full category, whole concept, and the article is always a definite article: le, la, les.
- tu aimes le chocolat = you like chocolate
- tu aimes les légumes = you like vegetables
- tu aimes l'histoire = you like history
The key is "donc" (so/therefore), which expresses a consequence.
The link between the two parts of the sentence must be logical, like: you like a whole category, therefore you eat one/any component of the category.
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Tu aimes les légumes means "you like the whole 'vegetable' category / vegetables in general" = You like vegetables (no "the", these vegetables are not specific).
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... donc tu manges des haricots (plural of "un haricot") = ... so you eat beans (more than one bean).
In English, if you say you like the vegetables, you are understood to mean you like the particular vegetables to which you are referring, which may or may not include beans. In French, tu aimes les légumes means that you like vegetables generally and, therefore, you will like beans, since beans are vegetables. See Sitesurf’s comment above. NB I am native GB English speaker.
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is not right. from english to french, "les" is obligatory. from english to french, the is optional. doesn't make sense
"Haricot" is one of these words which start with an "aspirated H", meaning that no liaison or elision is allowed.
So with a definite article: "le haricot" (luh-arico) is the singular (not l'haricot) and "les haricots" (le-arico) is the plural.
The same applies to "un haricot" (un-arico) where the N is not heard and "des haricots" (de-arico), with no liaison.
Please try this page where several examples are available : https://forvo.com/search/un%20haricot/
G is a "hard consonant", pronounced G before hard vowels: a, o, u.
It is pronounced as J before a soft vowel: e, i.
In the word "garage", in both English and French, the first one is G and the second one is J.
In the verb "mangeons", an -e- has been added to keep the J sound you have in the other conjugations (mange, manges, mangez, mangent).
I'd say vegetables are plural so it's "les". However you are eating some portion of beans..so "des"...Another example to co-relate "vous mangez du poulet " you are eating some portion of chicken but beans are plural and you are eating some beans from beans. Could also be possible to have some other logic behind using des. This is what I knew.."If you know something, Share something" right?..here,you go..
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It's so frustrating because in French you must use the article, but when you translate it to English they don't accept when you write "the". You like "the" vegetables. And I am confused because I was understanding that "des" makes it more general. So how do I know when it is les or des if when I translated les legumes to "the vegetables" but des haricots is translated without an article?