48 Comments
I got every single word wrong on this. Disheartening. Literally and figuratively.
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Oh the joys of trying to make sense of a random phrase without any context! I knew that 'Un peu écrire sa soeur les murs' was obviously wrong but could not guess what it was supposed to be - at least I got three words correct :)
I managed to get it right on the first try. Had to mouse over 'murs' though; I don't think we've been taught that word yet.
I got everything except the plural, that was frustrating, cause I had to listen like 10 times to finally get it, and then realize it was "les murs" instead of "le mur".
Me, too - if it makes you feel any better. (Except for écrire) It's a context thing, I think. I knew what I was writing made no sense but also had no idea what she was trying to say.
Is écrire infinitive - as in not conjugated - here, because you only conjugate one verb in a sentence?
- 450
LOL! Brilliant. But while it's true for this sentence, you can conjugate more than one verb in a sentence. For example: "Il sait que vous travaillez" (He knows that you work).
I wish it kept the levels from when the posts were written for just that reason, rather than updating them. I hate to write on the early levels of a language now for that reason. ;-)
I think what xuyang1233321 meant was, how can you tell the difference between those two phrases, aurally?
Here are the three basic "e" sounds:
"les" of "les murs" has a more "closed" e sound: think of the "e" sound in "mes amis" or the e on the end of "canapé." The "é" is always that closed sound. The two first vowels of "généralement" are also the same as the "les" vowel.
"le" of "le mur" is a much more neutral sound; most people call it a "schwar." The same sound as "de", "je", "ne pas", "devant". It is slightly shorter and more like an "uh."
The third sound is the open E, often distinguished by an "è". Think of "c'est", "frère, mère", "très" "j'aime" is actually the same sound too.
All those little words often come in two different versions: de/des, le/les, me/mes, ce/ces, se/ses; even the difference between the always closed é sound of "et" and the always open è sound of "est."
It's important to get to hear the distinction - it can be subtle, but I've found that on the whole duolingo does make the distinction clear enough.
You can tell because 'les' and 'le' sound different. (You can get Google Translate to say the phrases for you.)
"We can write THAT on the walls" is correct. so should your sentence be, if ça can mean both that as well as it
"On" means "one" in the sense that we sometimes use "one" as a general subject in English: "one eats steak with a steak knife", "one opens a locked door with a key", whatever. It seems a little more flexible in French, though. There are cases in English where we use "we" in a general sense--in fact, I'm doing it quite a lot in this post. If I translated this post into French, a lot of the places where I'm saying "we" I'd be saying "on" instead. My understanding is that if you say "nous" for "we", then you're not using "we" in a general sense, but to specifically refer to yourself and those with you.
- 1993
Why over the walls is not accepted? I could seat on the top of a wall and write this :-)
Well, it's slang to say "all over" to me on. However, if you wrote "all over the walls" I'd find that acceptable.
On = means all the same personal pronoun.nous/vous/ils Why vous? On is more general. Its equivalent can every personal pronoun.
On peut écrire ça sur les murs !
Nous can write that on the walls.!------It was incorrect translation.
CORRECT SOLUTIONS: You can write that on the walls! One can write it on the walls!
On = in a grammar explication "On crie "vive l' América and nous crions "vive la France"-"it is express that who shouts Long live the America was a bigger group and in this group was a smaller group who shouts Long live the France. Translated in French:" On crie vive l'América et nous crions "vive la France.!" It try to explain the difference between"on" and"nous"
"Nous can write that on the walls" is incorrect because it mixes English and French. :P
I want to refer to my previous comment when the DUO qualified "nous" answer as wrong. I wrote an example which can be found and if will have found it I put the link here. "On crie "vive l' América and nous crions "vive la France"-This sentence explains the"on" with "set theory" -i(n French: "Théorie des ensembles") a mathematical theory. There is bigger set(ensemble) this is the "ON" it includes everybody / we/you/they/ one/ people etc/ Till they are standing and they don't shout it is a homogeneous mass (on/people/nous/ vous/ils/ when in this set/mass (ensemble) there is a group who begins to shout : "Vive la France"- they are in the mass(on), but they form a little set/mass (ensemble) in the big mass and we can say thet "they,/we/you/someones/ etc can't began to shout: "Vive la France." That's why if sb translates on = by NOUS/ VOUS / ILS/ELLES / PEOPLE/ ONE(S )etc the translation is good.
So when the DUO didn't accept this translation -----wasn't right.
On peut écrire ça sur les murs ! Nous can write that on the walls.!------It was "nous" incorrect translation. CORRECT SOLUTIONS: You can write that on the walls! -You is a correct. Why is good "vous" and why isn't good "nous". NONSENSE. *One can write it on the walls!
It lies in how the words are used. "Sa" = "her" (possessive adjective); "ça = "this", or "that", or possibly "it" (pronoun). In this sentence, the sound could not have been "sa", since there is no noun for the adjective to modify.
Is this an idiom? I see the comments up top but they don't entirely answer my question.
Why is this "one can write <IT> on the walls" and not "one can write on the walls" I would think that the sentence, on peut l'ecire sur les murs would be more correct.
"ça"=it. I take this as a figurative expression, "this thought should be declared to the world" with emphasis on "ça" instead of literal permit to use walls as writing material.
Then you're omitting the word "ça" in the original. The sentence is talking about something specific that you could write on the walls. "We can write on the walls" (in general) would be "On peut écrire sur les murs."
Will somebody stop all of the "double-speak" and just explain why "On" does not mean "we"? :'(
It can. It's an impersonal pronoun, and, while in English we do use "one" in a similar way (One doesn't like to make a scene). it's a bit old-fashioned and pretty rare. In French it's much more commonly used. Because of this difference in tone, it is often not quite right to translate "on" directly as "one", and more colloquial terms, like "we" or even "you", convey the meaning better. I hope you don't find the above to be more doublespeak. Please ask if you require futher clarification.
"One could write that on the walls" was marked wrong. But "could" in this context implies ability and not past tense...
