"Ils achètent les mêmes livres."

Translation: They are buying the same books.

[Andrea285760]

She doesn't pronounce the 's' of 'ils' in the slow version

[brea1004792]

That is wrong because you have to pronounce the "s" if it is in front of a vowel. However, if it isn't in front of a vowel then you shouldn't pronounce the "s" at all.

[susanddavis]

By itself, ils is not pronounced with the s. The slow version is word by word.

[Roody-Roo]

Never does. The slow one never pronounces liaisons or enchainement. Each word is pronounced separately and distinctly.

The liaison can be heard very clearly on the normal speed.

[arandaneri]

Is she saying achèt(S)?. ..that's what I hear and that would be mispronounced.

[stevenAndr426278]

about time duolingo got this sorted, I wrote "il achete" There audio should have rolled the S into achetent and if would be crystal clear. I also note "achètent" isn't in the words list so even after you can't compare the word on audio.

[matanbz]

What is the phonetic cue that it's plural books and not singular. I.E
"le meme livre"
vs.
"les memes livres"
?
The meaning is of course slightly different "buying the same book" vs. "buying the same bookS", but is there any hint of that in the pronunciation? Or they sound the sameme?

[InvertedGo]

The difference is in the pronunciation of "le" vs "les".

Le = luh

Les = lay (or "leer" minus the r) (it depends on who you are talking to)