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- Topic: French >
- "Her clothes are small."
"Her clothes are small."
Translation:Ses vêtements sont petits.
110 Comments
I think surprise is something that is memorable and therefore a good tool to help us learn!
Especially if it's the surprise that forces you to start a lesson over from the beginning.
I remember learning to ride a bike. Kept falling off and often it hurt, even drew blood sometimes. 70 years later I can still ride a bike. Learning this language can be mentally hurtful sometimes and I don't even have the 70 years now to look back at the success, I guess that is why the deal is that the course doesn't draw blood?
You do then get to do it all over again though! That is great for learning.
2314
Duo users will constantly be introduced to new words this way. This is how immersion works. Mouse-over the word and Duo will give you a clue as to what it means. Even the Duo app allows you to do this. There is no shame in looking at the information which Duo makes available to you during the learning process. You can also keep a dictionary open in another tab and look it up. http://www.larousse.com/en/dictionaries/french-english/habit/38701
[Edit: For those confronted with the multiple choice exercise, it's true that it does not include mouse-overs. That's just the way it is. I know, it all seems so unfair! Even so, nothing prevents you from popping into your dictionary app to check on the meaning of a word you may not have seen before.]
Except on the multiple choice parts, you can't hover over any of the words. Kinda frustrating when it's your last heart and you got one wrong that you were never taught.
- 1330
It's been so long since I've revisited this skill I forgot all about "habit" being clothes and fell for the same thing again. FML.
I got this on multiple choice, AND on the strengthen skill section, so I really should not be getting new words.
- 985
Yes I hate it when it speaks a word I have never heard and I have nothing to hover over, I just have to get it wrong.
Yes, it works great when there are hover hints. But this question does not have them!
When they give you a multiple choice and 'habits' doesnt ring a bell, I assume it isnt a choice.
- 1447
There were no hints for "habits" . Although I guessed it was an alternative for "vêtements" there was no way of knowing what gender the word was.
Necessarily, Lisaskier, introducing a student to a language, there will be times when a word, at least, will be new and unexplained nor hinted previously. There is a phrase; "We learn by our mistakes." That is what these discussion forums are here for. Lisaskier, gender is impossible, really, in all Romanic languages. Gender just has to be learnt and memorised. Look, in French , gender is "All over the shop." The sea is feminine; La Mere but the lake is masculine; Le lac. Topping the bill of confusion, and I have lost count of how many times I have given this as an example; the vagina in French is masculine, Le vagin. Duo is a limited, programmed free to use site to learn basic French. Babbel and Rosetta Stone will charge around £450 to present you with the same difficulties. Let us all just lively up ourselves? Bonne chance et heureux apprentissage. Votre ami, JJ.
I don't think most of the words you've learnt were 'taught' in the traditional way. Now you know it, don't you? :)
- 530
I agree - only in "Tu habite ou?" meaning where do you live. - never in clothingmatters...
I understand how this teaching technique could be useful, but I've taken this lesson over 10 times trying to get everything right and it's the first time I got this word.
Do not be confused by thinking "Son" is used when talking about a male and "Sa" for a female, it can vary greatly. "Sa" is used when talking about something feminine. For example, "Sa voiture" means His/her car, but "Sa" is used because "voiture" is a feminine noun. "Ses," however is used in the plural form for either. For example, "Ses voitures" means His/her cars.
I assume it is 'petits' and not 'petites' because vetements is masculine.
Can someone confirm this?
- 1362
How else can they teach you new words if they don't show them to you and ask you if you know how use them?
I read over the lower comments and could not really find a definative answer. What is the differnace between vetements et habits?
I agree totally that this question should not introduce a new word or if it does use as an alternative translation and give total credit for the single correct answer.
That's kind of annoying that I had to lose a heart because they didn't teach "habits"
They didn't 'teach' most of what you've learnt, yet you know it now. Magic isn't it? :)
For the record, at the moment it is accepting vetements in the written answer translating English to French; I do not know about the multiple choice, French to English or otherwise.
The multiple choice currently lists "habits", at least sometimes, and then it's required. I know, because I just lost a heart!
- 2314
It's not a mistake; it's a feature. Before you finish the French tree, you will learn to pick up on every cue possible to determine what the word is. You will learn to listen for things you never before realized were even there. Right now it may seem unfair to be taught in this way. If you have an audio exercise, you can listen carefully to the word and see if you can figure out what it is. Write it down while thinking French, not English. Look up the word you believe it is in the dictionary: Larousse, Collins, Wordreference, Reverso, or try Google (probably the least trustworthy for definitions). Can you get any clue from the context? Is it singular or plural, masculine or feminine. Sometimes you can answer some of these questions and sometimes you cannot. Finally, does it make sense? Do your best, put your answer and press ENTER. Then, right or wrong, the learning begins.
You cannot differentiate them with a single sentence. If I were to say: 'Elle est tres propre. Sa voiture est propre aussi,' you would be able to tell that I was talking about HER car, because the sentence before implies it. In short, there is no way to tell if they're talking about a male or female in the sentence unless the sentence before (or maybe after) implies it.
- 465
To answer your question, the H is indeed mute, so a liaison is made between "ses" and "habits" = "sayzzzabee"
- 1362
This one got me because I thought I knew what habits meant from before I started French. Turns out that while it can mean appearance or demeanor, the more common meaning is clothes. Lost a heart because I looked it up after I answered the question instead of before.
I thought habits has no "e" at the end, so it's masculine, did I just discovered sth or is it not generalizable?
- 1362
Sa is singular, ses is plural. Vêtements is plural so its modifier must be as well. The modifier takes its form from the object it is attached to not the subject.
For the same reason, because vêtements is masculine, any of its modifiers take the masculine form. so that even if it was singular it would be son not sa. The gender and number of the subject is irrelevant, only the object of the modifier counts.
Vêtements wasn't the word in the example though. It was habits. What's the difference?
- 1362
According to dictionaries not much difference. Might be a difference in usage though.
Hi alan.philp- I wondered this when I had this question too! Echoing northernguy, it's Ses because its referring to the vetements (plural) even though translates to "her clothes". This is also why sont is used as opposed to est, and petites as opposed to petit. Hope this helps and good luck on your French journey!
according to google, son, sa, and sea has the meaning of "her". what's the real difference ?
Welcome to "Possessives":
- son (masculine, singular object)
- sa (feminine, singular object)
- ses ( either gender, plural objects)
Son, sa and ses all mean his/her. I hope this helps.
I had no problem chosing the right answer. Even though I didn't know this word I paid attention to the grammatic rules to pick the correct one. But 'habits' as clothes....never thought of it. Weird :p
A few French words can be construed to mean clothes or clothing in English; context, always context. The French Habits (usually plural) is from where the English "A Monk's Habit" is derived.
According to Wunel (see Above):
son (masculine, singular object)
sa (feminine, singular object)
ses ( either gender, plural objects)
That is because the 'vêtements' is in plural. So, when the object is in plural, the possession word for the object must also be plural too. That explain why the answer is using 'ses' instead of 'son'/'sa'.
And the suggested is "ses vêtements sont petits" but there is no "vêtements" in the world list.
Learning French is easier for those who have a Latin based mothern language,such as Portuguese.I "guessed" it
Sa=his, her,..... preceding a feminine noun. Son=His, Her,..... preceding a masculine noun. (At this stage..... It moves on.)
Is vêtement only used in singular and habits in plural or can you say les vêtements
- 1411
DL dinged me wrong for not chosing vetements even though it wasn't a choice on the tablet. And I did notice the inconsistent plurality!
- 465
Not sure what you mean by "on the tablet", but if you are referring to the vocabulary hints that appear when you hover over a word, I regret to inform you that they are not what you - and many others - imagine them to be. They are not hints directed at the sentence you are currently working on. All they are are two or three possible translations for the word; in no case will all of them be appropriate for the current exercise, and in some cases, none of them will be.
Personally, I think they are a menace to the mental health of the students here - they certainly seem to drive a lot of folks crazy. I ignore them and just use a good dictionary. I recommend http://www.wordreference.com/ Bonne chance!
- 1411
I use DL app on an android tablet and it behaves differently than on my desktop PC It sometimes 8-14 words to touch in order to translate a sentence. Vetements was not in the list but vetement was. It seems Madeline05 may have experienced the same thing. Writing any good app is hard, it's just also hard as a user to be dinged for not choosing an answer that wasn't there!
I am fast becoming disgruntled with surprise words. However it's free and i am learning something when i'm not cussing duolingo
Sa = singular possessive for feminine noun, with exceptions, see -> Son = singular possessive for masculine noun and singular feminine noun beginning with a vowel sound and Ses = plural possessive for both masculine and feminine nouns.
Depending on context, Clothes, Garments, Garb, Guise and more, even Habit. It really depends on the "Story" the particular context of the sentence and the "Plot", the scenario. Duo is trying to be gentle here and give us a clue that sometimes it is not Vetements, Robes, Costumes, Jupes, Pantalon, Veste/ for whatever we are wearing in England, there is another term?
Hiya Manwathiel. Vetements is clothing/clothes but habits, in context, can mean clothes but can mean so many more different things. Too many to list here.
