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- "Le vert est sa couleur préfé…
"Le vert est sa couleur préférée."
Translation:Green is his favorite color.
33 Comments
207
I put 'le verre' and it was still translated as 'green'. I thought verre meant a glass.
I did the same thing, and it did not mark it wrong. When you're doing a "listen and write in French" exercise, it is impossible to tell. It actually did make sense to me, as in, "The glass [that I brought him] is his favorite color.
I also wrote "le verre". I believe it is in the context of saying that the color of the glass is one's favorite color, but in a very general and vague sense. ie Son verre est ma couleur préférée, ou Ce verre est sa couleur préférée. However, without referencing the actual object in some way, and simply stating "Le verre" the idea (that at least I had in mind) falls apart. That being said, the fact that duolingo accepted "le verre" as correct is wrong.
This interpretation cannot work with the verb "est" in French. You would need the verb "avoir":
- Son verre a ma couleur préférée
- Ce verre a sa couleur préférée.
Sitesurf, is this based on a rule I should know (and if so can you direct me to it)? Does it follow the same idea as someone being hungry (ie J'ai faim) and it's a state of the object, so it "has" it rather than "is" it? OR is this just a difference between french and english, a direct translation will not suffice, and I just need to remember this? Much thanks.
Yes, the use of "to be/être" and "to have/avoir" is not linear and you can come across "gallicisms" (typically French constructions), including the examples you gave.
- This is the same color as my shirt = Ceci est de la même couleur / Ceci a la même couleur que ma chemise.
So, with the examples from my previous post, you can use the following alternatives:
- Son verre est de ma couleur préférée
- Ce verre est de sa couleur préférée.
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Duolingo still seems to think it's ok. It corrected my accents but not verre: Pay attention to the accents. Le verre est sa couleur préférée.
I also put verre as all my drinking glasses are coloured glass as are my windows in Egypt! The le/la is indistinct on the listen exercises
Yes, because it is a noun and French nouns need their articles. "Le vert" is a generality here, hence the definite article.
Sa can be translated as either his or her , but the choice depends on the gender of the noun it refers to, not the gender of the person.. Couleur is a feminine noun, so in this case sa couleur préférée can mean either " his favourite colour" or" her favourite colour", and either should be accepted.
This reminded me of both "My Favorite Color Is Blue" and "Blue Is The Warmest Color" oh dear
I entered 'his favorite color is green,' which yielded a red screen for an incorrect response. My response was correct, just a different and perfectly acceptable English word order.
If you don't have to (for grammatical reasons), please don't change the word order.
It might look odd, but it is correct: colors as nouns are masculine and "une couleur" is feminine.
Thank you Sitesurf. I realised afterwards that I'd had no problem with un ours being une bête, or une chemise being un vêtement but I'd never thought of colours as nouns before and it felt quite strange!
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I'd guess "he prefers" doesn't match the French sentence. The meaning is of course the same though.
I don't understand why I don't receive answers to my questions and I don't know how to check if someone has answered me. Pls can someone guide me on how to check ur answers to my questions?
You should receive an email every time someone adds a comment to a thread you have posted on.
Please refer to Sitesurf's explanation of 4 months ago, above --- the noun vert is masculine, so "le vert", but the noun couleur is feminine, so "la couleur", and "sa couleur préférée" .
