"This book is my son's."
Translation:Ce livre est celui de mon fils.
14 Comments
What is the difference between the four? Here's my guess: Celui - singular masculine Celle - singular feminine Ceux - plural masculine celles - plural feminine Is that right?
In a possessive case like this one, "celui" refers to "le livre" in the form of a pronoun: the one of my son is what "celui de mon fils" literally means.
Since French does not have a possessive apostrophe-S, but a construction with "possession + de + owner", you have to learn this as something to remember.
Is your question about the difference between celui, celle, ceux and celles? Or is it about when to use Pronoms démonstratifs (Demonstrative pronouns) in general?
This book = ce livre
is = est
my son's = my son's (one) = the one of my son = celui de mon fils.
So, could it be then written le livre, celui de mon fils? Switching is (est) to of (de)?
"Is" = "est"; that is the verb and it remains independent from the last part of the sentence.
Without a verb, you only have a fragment, like "'the book, my son's" which does not make much sense.
No, it really doesn't make sense...without the verb. And, until you said this, I didn't realize I didnt have one in it with the de form of the sentence. Thank you, it makes MUCH more sense now!
"Ceci" is a pronoun meaning "this thing".
Before a noun, you need a demonstrative adjective: ce, cet, cette, ces:
- ce livre (masc)
- cet arbre (masc, before a vowel)
- cette pomme (fem)
- ces livres/arbres/pommes (all plural nouns)
